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IIBRARYOFPRINCETON 




THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 



BS 1180 .J4613 1911 v.l 
Jeremias, Alfred, 1864-1935 
The Old Testament in the 
light of the ancient East 



THEOLOGICAL TRANSLATION LIBRARY 



VOL. XXVIII 

JEREMIAS' THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE LIGHT 

OF THE ANCIENT EAST 

VOL. I 



THE OLD TESTAMENT 

IN THE LIGHT OF THE 

ANCIENT EAST 

MANUAL OF ßlBLICAL ARCH^OLOGY 



ALFRED JEREMIAS f* t^ny y ign *j 

LICENTIATE DOCTOR \ > / 

l'ASTOK OK THE LUTHEKKIKCHE, ANU LECTUKF.K AT 1 HE UMVEKSlTVöi^*^Pi:^G~~*' '* * •"'' ' . O^n / 



ENGLISH EDITION 



Translated froni the Second Geiman Edition, Revised 
and Enlarged by the Aulhor 

EY 

C. L. BKAUiMONT 

EDLIED I;Y 

Rev. Canon C. H. W. JOHNS, Litt.l). 

MASTER OV sr CATHAKlNEb COLLEGE, CAMÜK1D(JE 



VOL. I 




NEW YORK: G. P. PU TNAM'S SONS 

LONDON: WILLIAMS AND NORGATE 

1911 



PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION 

Thi>; English translatioii contains inany alterations and im- 
provements that weve not embodied in the second Gei'man 
edition, and constitiites in eftect the third edition of my work. 

I have paid special attention to the first three chapters, and 
bave submitted thein to a special revision. They form a key 
to the whole, and I recommend theni for special attention as an 
introduction to the conception of the universe current in the 
Ancient East. 

The plan and scientific principles of the book are fully dealt 
with in the preface to the first and second German editions, so 
that I need not refer to them further here. 

I owe especial thanks to the painstaking work bestowed upon 

the translation by Mrs Beauniont, to whose enthusiasni the 

English edition is largely due. 

ALFRED JEREMIAS. 

Leipzig, 21.v/ Febn/an/ 191 1. 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND GERMAN 

EDITION 

Thk first edition of this book, published Ea^ter 1904, Avas already 
exhausted by the beginning of September 1905. The author 
feels every reason for satisfaction in the scientific, as well as other 
results, of the rapid sale of a large editiou. It was necessarily a 
venture on his part to appear wholly and without reserve on 
the side of those who connect the " Babylonian '' coneeption 
of the universe with the primary ideas of the Biblical writers. 
In the nieantime, men of the niost difl'erent theological parties, 
when they have not shirked the labour of penetrating into the 
thought World of the Ancient East, have become convinced of 
the truth of the '^ Pan-Babylonian" coneeption, and of its 
iniportance for the understanding of the Bible. 

In consideration of the agreement already obtained, the author 
has bestowed renewed care upon the introductoi-y presentation 
of this ancient coneeption of the universe, in the hope that the 
two first chapters niay serve a useful purpose as an explanation 
of the svstem characteristic of the Ancient East. The astral 
motifs (which are interwoven with the Biblical stories) must 
unavoidably present, for many people, peculiar difficulties. In 
the new edition the passages concerning astral mythology have 
been greatly amplified. 

To readers who have not yet been able to grasp the novel 
idea, a large asterisk at the beginning and the end of the 
passlcres concerned may serve as a signal to omit them in read- 
ing the book ; on the other band, they may facilitate the recog- 
nition of the subject for those who wish to penetrate the realm 
of astral motifs. 



viii PREFACE TO THE SECOND GERMAN EDITION 

I have avoided polemical arguments with opponents. In 
many cases the necessary premises for fruitful discussion are still 
wantins:. A iiumber of antagonistic declarations have been 
collected separately, and may perhaps be printed later as a con- 
tribution to the history of Biblical-Oriental science. 

The author's fundamental principles in regard to the Biblical 
question are reprinted in the following preface to the first edition. 
He is at one with those who seek in the Old Testament a revelation 
through the medium of history. For him the Israelite presen- 
tation of God and expectation of a deliverer is not a distillation 
of human ideas grown on various soils of the Ancient East, 
l)ut is an eternal truth, in the gay mantle of Oriental imagery. 
Further, the forms of this imagery belong to a single conception 
of the universe, which sees in all earthly things and events the 
image of heavenly things, typically foretold in the pictures and 
the cycles of the starry heavens. 

The author owes many thanks to his publisher and printer. 
His publisher has freely consented to a large increase in the 
number of figures, and has again been at great pains to secure a 
high level of work. At the same tirae, an extraordinarily low 
price has been made possible. The German editions were printed 
by the Böhlau Hof-Buchdruckerei in Weimar, with whom it 
must be a pleasure for any author to work, and to whom it is for 
the most part due that both the first and second German editions 
may be described as typographically accurate. 

The printing of the book was begun in the middle of April 
1906, and in June the first twelve sheets were specially published 
as Part I. 

Great care has been taken with the index. Thanks should 
be expressed to Herr Münnich, student of theology, for his 
earnest care and trouble in proof correction and in the index. 

ALFRED JEREMIAS. 

Leipzig, Slst Octoher 1906. 



PREFACE TO THE FIRST GERMAN 
EDITION 

The clearest Illustration and the best Interpretation of any 
writing is to be found in conteniporary records. This seif- 
evident truth has, after long dispute, been theoretically estab- 
lished in the region of Old Testament research. But in practice 
there is as vet little trace of its effect. People have been content 
for the most part to take the results due to the investigation of 
the monuments as interesting decorations to comuientaries, but 
they are seldoni allowed to exercise any influenae on the under- 
standing of Israelite niodes of thought. The scepticism which 
the so-called orthodox "positive" school showed to the utilisa- 
tion of the monuments, had good grounds. But this scepticism 
should have been directed not against the monuments, but 
against the conclusions of students who found in them the con- 
flnnation of their own views. It would have been better to 
figlit these opponents with their own weapons. Attacks have 
b?en made recently on the conclusions of Assyriology, especially 
from the side which has all along claimed to be founded upon 
science, and, as must be allowed, has always carefuUy and 
earnestly sought to Interpret the Old Testament by the results 
of the study of historical science and ethnology. 

The school of historical criticism which began its work at a 
time when the lields of Oriental archa?ology were not yet laid 
bare, has not shown itself inclined to utilise the new material, 
because, on important points, this contradicts the dogmas 
founded upon earlier stages of knowledge. 

The author of this book holds the traditions of the Old 
Testament with a confidence based ultimately upon religious 



X PREFACE TO THE FIRST GERMAN EDITION 

conviction : novinn testamentum in veterc leitet. This confidence 
has beeil luore and more scientifically confirnied as the disclosure 
of the circLinistances and inter-relations of the Ancient East 
have alloued a thoroughly critical examination of siniilar cir- 
cumstance« described in the Old Testament. It is a brilliant 
confiruiation of bis views that the learned scholar who accepted 
the suppositions of the school of historical criticism a\ ith the 
greatest consistency and had foUowed them out to the end, has 
now concluded, on the giound of a niore vital knowledge of the 
Ancient East and of its contemporary history, that those sup- 
positions prove to be erroneous. 

Our first two chapters, which were originally meant as an 
introduction, recjuire a special preliniinary notice. 

In \n\ book Im Kamj)fe nm Babel u. Bibel I have already 
fully and eniphatically accepted the hypotheses of the viijtho- 
logical form (>/ pre.scntation, and the m/jthologieal System^ as 
developed by Winckler. It had been ex})licitly pointed out by 
Winckler that a right knowledge of the " mythological " form 
of exprcssion and of the conceptions of anticjuity could exist 
equallv well with the most perfect faith and with the most far- 
reaching sce})ticism in regard to the facts related. I have not 
as yet become aware of any contrary conclusion affecting the 
essence and bearing of facts, which bases its Opposition on any- 
thing but misunderstanding. I see in the knowledge of the 
.\ncient-Oriental mythological System the key to an etymology 
of Biblical literature ; but I niust endeavour, in regard to it, to 
caution the reader against an over-estimation of this form and 
against finding a Solution of facts in mythological ideas. In 
Order to make the system comprehensible, the Ancient-Oriental 
conception of the universe and its fundamental astral Panthe- 
istic System must be explained. 

The two introductory chapters are placed for the first time in 
connection with authentic documentary records, 

As a whole, I trust the book may serve not only to make 
known the essence of Biblical representations, but that it will 
furthcr the understanding of its contents. Research has long 
enough laid most stress upon the investigation of tradition. 
Criticism has busied itself with but two lines of tradition, the pre- 



PHEFACE TO THE FIRST GERMAN EDITION xi 

canonlcal., dealt with by the literary critic, and the post-ccuionicfd, 
which aims at establishing the form of the traditional text. But 
the essence of Biblical literature does not lie in the difference 
between Yahvist and Elohist, or in the critical investigation 
of Massora, Septuagint, Peshito, and so on. We would in 
no wav underestiniate the value of these researclies, we would 
rather eniphasise their necessity and their great profit. But the 
nieanins: is more than the form. The service rendered bv 
Oriental archaeology is to have directed investigation of the 
meaning on to new hnes, and to have given an authoritative 
Standard for its understanding. 

The arrangement of the book is simple. The Old Testament 
writings were originally treated in the order of Luthcr''s Bible. 
The glossary parb may be taken as Schrader redivivus ; it may 
serve the same purpose which Eberhard Schrader"'« K.A.T. 
(Cune'iform InscripUons and the Old Te-siaincnt) served in the 
introductory stages of the investigation of cuneiform writings. 

I trust the book mav at least in some measure fulfil the great 
purpose which I have had in view. 

ALFRED JEREMIAS. 

Leipzig, Daii of the Spring Equbiox, 1904-, 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

The publishers have concluded that it would be a help to the 
general reader to have an introduction to this very interesting 
and usefal book dealing with the hght thrown by recent 
Oriental exploration upon Biblical study. Ever since the 
excitement caused by George Smith's announcement in the 
Daily Telegraph for 3rd December 1873 of his discovery among 
the cuneiform tablets in the British Museum of close parallels 
to the Bible stories of Creation and the Dekige, interest in 
the subject has been unflagging. After the proprietors of the 
Daily Telegraph, at their own expense, sent George Smith 
to Nineveh to recover, if possible, further fragments of the 
ancient Babylonian legends, little progress was made for 
several years. Geor(;e SAirrn pubhshed the results of his ex- 
ploration, combined with further researehes in the British 
Museum hoards, as The Chaldean Genesis, a book still füll of 
fascinating interest. 

The explorations since conducted by the University of 
Pennsylvania at the ancient site of Bel-worship in Nippur 
have "been fully described by Professor Hii.precht in his 
splendid work entitled Explorations in Bible Lands, and in 
The Excavations in Assyria and Bahylonia, Series D, vol. i., 
of the publications of the Babylonian Expedition of the Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania. The tablets procured by this expedition 
are regularly published with exquisite care and fidelity in a 
crreat Series A. The Deutsche Orientgesellschaft have spent 
years excavating Babylon and Asshur, the ancient capital of 
Assyria ; their wonderful results being continually reported in 
the" Mitteilungen der Deutsche Orientgesellschaft zu Berlin. 
The French have had years of work at Telloh, the ancient 



xiv EDITOR^S INTRODUCTION 

Lagash, capital of an independent kingdom in Southern 
Babylonia, whicli has recovered a niunicipal liistory of the 
second millenniuni ü.c. They have also carried on explorations 
tbr manv years at Susa, the ancient capital of Elani and 
Persia, as results of which the French Ministry of Education 
issue from tinie to time magnificent tomes of inscriptions, 
archteological repofts, and researches as Mcmnires de Ja Delega- 
tion en Ferne. The British Museum is continually accjuiring 
niasses of fresh niaterial, and the Trustees have already issued 
twenty-six \olunies of Cvneiform Teais- from Balr/j/on'unt 
TahleU^ etc., in the Brttislt Museum. The natives of Baby- 
lonia, having learnt the eonimercial value of the treasures 
liidden boneath the soil ander their feet, annually send to 
Europe hundreds of tablets, eagerly bought by museunis and 
private collectors. The Imperial Ottoman Museum at Con- 
stantinople is rapidly ])ecoming a vast storehouse of Baby- 
lonian literature and arcliteology, which will tax the powers 
of European scholars for years to come to arrange, classify, 
copy, and edit. 

The enormous amount of such material available for the 
reconstruction of history in the Valleys of the Euphrates and 
the Tigris, pushing back our knowledge of human civilisation, 
and that of a very high order, beyond dates once assigned to 
the Flood or even to the creation of the World, requires in- 
cessant and concentrated labour on the part of many students. 
It is so vast that few men can have more than a knowledge of 
its existence, and every scholar has to make some definite brauch 
of the subject his special study. There is, consequently, grave 
danger that even those whose knowledge of cuneiform is 
adequate may become so engrossed in one aspcct as to miss a 
larger view of the whole. 

In practice it is too offen left to somewhat irresponsible 
persons to niake the results of scholars available for the general 
public. There are inany populär presentations available, but 
a thoroughly reliable handbook of Biblical archaeology has 
yet to be written. It is not the fault of the scholars usually 
known as Assyriologists that such populär introductions are 
not to be liad. The absorbing demands of their own work 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION xv 

must be satisfied first. There are, however, now manv iiieans 
of following the progress of this wonderful new brauch of 
knowledge. The pubHcations above rcferred to are not easily 
appreciated withoiit severe and prolonged stridy. But our own 
Society of Bibhcal Archteology has taken a prominent position 
as an organ for research. The ExposHory T'nuc-s- and the 
Intcrpirter keep a keen eye upon everything bearing upon the 
Bible. Most of the new commentaries embodv the results of 
such research as seems to be niost rehable. 

Eberhard Schrader, the Father of Assyriology in Germanv, 
early conipiled a niost vahial)le handbook of Assyriological 
iUustrations of the Old Testament, and his Die KcHinschriften 
und das Alte Testament, which appeared in an Enghsh dress 
as The Cune'iform Inscriptions and the Old Testament, has been 
an invahiable text-book of its subject. The new Dictionary of 
the Bible edited by Dr Hasi-ixos, and The Encyclopa'dni Biblica 
edited bv Professor Cheyne have given welcome aid in niaking 
the subject generallv known. In such a progressive science, 
where fresh facts are brought to light ahnost daily, even such 
great works soon need supplementing. The third edition of 
Schrader was carried out by Pi-ofessor H. Zimmern and 
Professor H. Wincki.eu, and was a revelation to niost of its 
readers. The additional matter was so great in amount that 
the book was practically rewritten. 

The recent science of Comparativc Rehgion has forced on 
BibHcal students the necessity of weighing the parallels to the 
Old and New Testaments to be found in otlier sacred books 
and the suggestions made by a knowledge of other religious 
beliefs. The intention to write an archaiological connnentary 
on the Old Testament in the light of all this fresh knowledge 
and Suggestion has undoubtedly been present to the minds of 
many scholars. They have issued monographs on special points 
too numerous to catalogue here. These might have served as 
prolegomena to the connnentary. 

It has been the aim, and this work is the outcome of it, on 
the part of Dr Jeremias to producc such a view of the new 
treatment as should connnend it to serious students and also 
free it from the reproach of capricious novelty. Scholars 

h 



xvi EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

cannot be supposed to have miich niore than begun their 
labours in the relation of the Bible to older religious teachings. 
Meantime here is an excellent presentation of the sort of thing 
that is going on. Few can be tempted to suppose that all 
will stand the test of further research. Others will perceive 
that even while the author is writing down what he has 
gathered, sonie of the ground has already shifted under his 
feet. There are some who will hasten to point out the 
modifications necessary from their point of view. It would be 
monstrously unfair to condemn such a work for the reason 
that it was not exact in every detail. Such an atten)pt had 
lo be made, and it is very well done. The labour expended 
must have been all but overwhelming to contemplate, and it is 
H wonder that the author did not give up his work in despair. 

A number of opinions are here expressed which niay seem 
novel and even repellent to English readers. They must 
examine the grounds set out, and, if these seem insufficient to 
Warrant the conclusions drawn, let them suspend their judg- 
ment. Confirmation or refutation is near at hand. Only one 
Word of caution is needed. The opinions stated bj Assyri- 
ologists, however eminent they may be as such, have no greater 
weight in subjects where they have no special application, 
than would be those of a botanist on Assyriology. It is not 
Assyriology which says this, that, or the other thing of the 
Bible. In the whole realm of Assyriology the Bible is not 
once named or referred to. The whole subject of Biblical 
indebtedness to Babylonian sources is not Assyriological. It is 
a matter of evidence, and can be weighed by anyone of sufficient 
acumen without any knowledge of cuneiform. Assyriologists 
may vouch for their facts, they have no special mandate to 
decide the application of them. 

The reader may well expect some explanation of the para- 
graphs touching upon astral religion and the ever-recurring 
motif: current literature abroad is much occupied by a dis- 
cussion of these things. 

This work aims at rendei'ing clearly intelligible to those who 
have not the expert knowledge of cuneiform writing and the 
ancient languages of Assyria and Babylonia needful to check 



xviii EDITOR^S INTRODUCTION 

Whether it will stand the test of further investigation and fresh 
knowledge remains to be seen. It is all largely a matter of 
Interpretation. The interpretation which he gives seems at 
present to fit the known facts very well, but we must suspend 
our judgnient awhile yet. Naturally, no treatise expounding 
the astral religion and written by a native Babylonian has come 
down to US. We do not know that the inventors of this great 
System of astrological thought may not very well have lived 
before the age of writing. The astral form of religion may, on 
the other band, be a late attempt to systematise religion and 
harmonise it with science, as then known and understood. 
Calendar motifs are often pointed out in Hugo Winckler's 
works as really ruling the development of religious ideas. This 
seems to be quite natural. Much w\\\ therefore depend upon 
the age to which the calendar motif in question has to be 
assigned. To all appearance the calendar, at least the inter- 
calation of the second Adar, etc., was still a very haphazard 
afFair in the time of the First Dynasty of Babylon. This may 
have been a period of degeneracy, but we are not yet sure 
what was the extent of Babylonian knowledge of the calendar. 
Dr Jeremias may unconsciously claim too much for it. 

There is remarkably little, if any, trace of the astral theory 
in the Babylonian proper names. One may not be prepared to 
expect it there. Proper names are often very old, and the 
theory may have arisen longafter the proper names were so well 
estabiished that the habit of calling a child after some deceased 
relative would prevent any coining of fresh names. Even so, 
the attributes ascribed to the gods in proper names— and tliese 
are the surest indication of populär beliefs— are by no means 
easy to express astrally. 

There is, further, considerable doubt about the application of 
mythological motifs. The reader may well think that ancient 
authors were reduced to a parlous state if they could not refer 
to a hero's crossing a river without becoming obsessed by a 
nibh-u motif. Anything which occurs sufficiently often in 
mythologv to be classed as a motif has to be accounted for by 
some necessity of the primitive mind. We are still not 
sufficiently acquainted with the thoughts of early men to be 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION xvii 

the Statements of scholars, a theory, largely due to the genius 
of Hugo Winckler, which professes to account for the various 
forms which religion took in the Ancient East, pavticularly that 
part of it doniinated by the settled Semitic peoples. Primarily, 
these forms are believed to have arisen in Babylonia, but, owing 
to the close contact of Arabia, Palestine, Syria, and parts of 
Asia Minor, due to commerce or war, they were widely held and 
early assimilated ; they appear in varied guises, and weregreatly 
modified by native genius. At the first glance, the reader will 
see that this theory would account for much that has hitherto 
defied explanation, and will necessitate the modification not only 
of traditional views but of many modern theories. It will nieet 
with sturdy Opposition from orthodox theologians and higher 
clitics alike. Unfortunately, an excessive amount of misrepre- 
sentation has been allowed to obscure the points at issue. It 
seems only fair that its exponents should be heard. It may be 
confuted by argument based on fuller knowledge, but is not 
likely to be dismissed by ignorance expressed in contemptuous 
condemnation. 

Dr Jeremias has bestowed great pains on elaborating the 
theorv and certainly presents it in a manner likely to command 
respect. His work is extremely valuable as a very füll con- 
tribution to Biblical archaeology, and, whatever may be thought 
of his theory, we owe him our best thanks for making available 
rieh Stores of illustrative material for understanding the setting 
of the Old Testament. Very little can be added to this side of 
the work, and the book gives a wonderfuUy clear account of the 
enormous advance in our knowledge of contemporary thought. 
Instead of emerging from a condition of primitive life, and 
developing their civilisation and religion independently and in 
protest against barbarism and savagery, we see that on all hands 
Israel was in contact with advanced civilisation and must have 
found it extremely difficult to avoid high Ideals of morality and 
relio-ion. It is difficult to see how Babylonian influence could 
have been kept at bay, and we may learn with some surprise 
how well worthy of adoption most of it must have been. 

The particular theory of astral religion which Dr Jeremias 
adopts is less objectionable than some which have been set out. 



EDITOR^S INTRODUCTION xix 

sure how they would regavcl such motifs. The method i.s not, 
therefore, uiisound, bat one fears that niany of its apphcations 
are preniatuic. Besides, the inventors of the astral religion 
had minds of an order which we can haidly class as primitive. 

üoubtless, in the last resort, the difficulties of explaining 
nian^s view of his relation to his god, whicli niay roughlv be 
taken to be his religion, arise from the difficultv of estiniating 
nian^ mental equipment. It seems untenable to suppose that 
ideas have of themselves a power to propagate themselves 
beyond the limits of healthy existence and so to produce a com- 
])etition which will secure their farther evolution. The laws of 
the evolution of ideas in history must be sought in some more 
scientific fashion than by a more or less happy use of a nieta- 
phorical statement transferred from the laws supposed to hold 
in natural history. It is difficult indeed to formulate a law of 
evolution of thought which shall explain the history of religion, 
or indeed of any human institutions. We niay still be content 
to register, tabulate, and classify. The theory which will 
explain is still to be discovered. 

This is one more attempt to group a very large set of notions 
and to show their organic relation. It is probably easily 
pressed too far, and Dr Jeremias may ultimately be shown to 
have overstated Ins case. But he must be shown to have done 
.^o, not rashly accused of either stupidity or special pleading. 
He has certainly made out a very good case, and as more 
material becomes available it must be used to support or 
invalidate his contentions. They cannot be ignored. It would 
be a pity to start another theory tili this is demolished. 

It is convenient to some minds to have a theory to connect 
up the isolated facts, a}jt to become very confusing otherwise. 
All that needs to be remembered is that a theory is not a fact, 
and may have to be modified or even abandoned in face of new 
facts. The history of the theories called laws in natural science 
and philosophy will be familiär to most readers, and should 
serve to keep them from the error of supposing that the facts are 
part of the theory to be accepted or rejected with it. 

The merit of the astral theory of ancient religion may seem 
to be that it will give scholars and booksellers employment for 



XX EDITOR^S INTRODUCTION 

some time to come. Even if it be ever accepted, much labour 
will have to be expended upon it before anyone thoroughly 
understands it. In the simple form presented by Dr Jeremias 
many will form opinions about it, and doubtless it can be 
modified to meet such views, if they are sufficiently supported 
by argument. For it is admirably qualified for being written 
about, verification and confutation being etjually unattainable. 
People in search of a subject on which to write a book will find 
this easy to begin upon, difficult to give up, and certain to 
last a long time. 

There is always a certain possibility for a clever, if not over- 
educated, man to happen upon a simple Solution of the universe. 
We have all done it at some time, probably early in our career. 
Usually considerations of modesty, or the advice of friends, or a 
lucky lack of a publisher, has prevented our applying it at length 
and at once to some large subject, Doubtless we were fond 
enough of our pet idea to re-examine it, and finally to tacitly 
bury it in oblivion. This happy conjunction of events — one 
had almost said planets — seems unlikely to recur. Either from 
lack of sound material or over-facility of production, and 
possibly from want of modesty or decline of faithful friendship, 
the " simple-gospel '' makers seem to be on the increase. Those 
of US who have little time to spare want to read books where 
speculation has been reduced to a minimum, and in which we 
may rely upon all the facts adduced in support of a theory. 
We are consequently apt to throw aside a book which we can 
neither see through nor verify. 

It is clear to those of us who have lost the omniscience of 
youth that the key to niost of man's historv and institutions is 
no simpler thing than man himself. We who have any belief 
in religion regard the explanation of any religion as inexact 
which does not take into account the nature of the divinity 
worshipped as well as the intellectual apparatus of the 
worshipper. Doubtless, in the opinion of some, we thereby 
renounce all claim to explain religion, but nevertheless we claim 
a right to be heard in defence, if not in explanation. The 
reality of the thing, to our apprehension, is the ultimate reason 
why we cannot explain or account for it. We are naturally 



EDITOR^S INTRODUCTION xxi 

slow to admit that any man or school of inen could invent a 
System of ideas serving for a religio«. We are apt to resent 
and rule out of court any account of any religion which would 
make it a purely intellectual product of reHection, a mere branch 
of science oi' philosophy. 

This book will perhaps hardly appeal to the young, who will 
prefer to write another simple Solution themselves. In spite 
of all prejudice, maturer minds may, however, well consider 
the astral theory as explaining certain aspects not only of 
Babylonian but also other religions. They may come to 
welcome it as affording a real insight into ancient thought. 

The astral theory is not the same thing as Pan-Babylonism. 
The Statements of Dr Jeremias may be taken as authoritative 
on this subject, and, unfortunate as the term may be, we have 
no right to impute tendencies or motives which are explicitly 
repudiated. Probably the individual members of the school 
do not pledge themsehes to any declaration made on their 
behalf by anv other member. The reader must estimate for 
himself the bearing of each alleged comparison of Babylonian 
prototypes with later similar institutions elsewhere. He may 
feel forced to admit borrowing from Babylonia or Babylonian 
influence. Even in some cases he may go so far as to admit 
literary dependence upon cuneiform sources, e.g. in the Biblical 
stories of Creation or the Deluge. 

The book must be used everywhere with independent judg- 
ment. While we must allow that Dr Jeremias is sincerely 
convinced of the opinions he has set out, we must examine 
them for ourselves along with the facts. The careful selection 
of these facts and their clear and striking presentation, along 
with a rieh störe of illustrations, must be a great boon to all 
who wish to compare the knowledge of Babylonia and Assyria, 
gleaned from the classical authors or from the Bible, with 
contemporary and native sources. 

It is not the province of the writer of an introduction to 
combat any of the opinions of the author uor to support them 
by other evidence. The present writer differs considerably from 
Dr Jeremias' opinions on many points. The general purpose 
of the work is admirable, and many orthodox scholars will find 



xxii EDITORS INTRODUCTION 

great siipport i'ov their views. Needless to say, they would be 
ill advised to lean too heavilv on this stafll" of Baljylonia. 
Some critic.'j of the Old Testament and sonie reconstractors of 
the New will find an armouiy of wea2:)ons fov their purposc. 
Tlie Student of history will Hnd fresh examples of what he has 
deduced froni other areas, and possibly will have leason to revise 
sonie of his theories. The general reader will experience 
entrancing interest, and, to j neige fio\n known instances, be 
tenipted to read it all at a sitting. 

Dr Jeremias has given a great deal of most \aluable niaterial 
which cannot be found collected elsewhere. This must give 
his book a permanent value. His account of the new theories 
is the best yet attainable. When they are finally accepted or 
disproved this will reniain a useful record of them. In any ca.se, 
they are well worth reading and considering. 

C. H. W. JOHNS. 



CONTENTS 



CllAl' 
I. 



3- 
4- 

r 

6. 

7- 
8. 

9- 

!0. 
I I. 
12. 



IHK AXCIENT-KA.vrKltX DÜCTKIN'E AXD THK AXCIKXT- 

KA.vrKüX COS.MOS ..... I 

liAHVLOXIAX KKLUilOX . . .83 

xox-nini.icAi, cos.mogoxiks .... 142 

THK BIlil.lCAL KECOJtl) OF CKEATIOX . . . 1 74 

I'AKADISK ...... 204 

THK FALL . . . 220 

THK l'ATKIAKCHS ..... 23S 

HIBLICAL GKXKKATIOX^^ .... 242 

K.VlKA-RUiLl'AL TKAÜllTON.s (»1- IHK DELUGK . . 245 

THK lUliLtC.AL UKCORD OK IHK UKKLUK . 260 

THK XA TIOXS ...... 275 

THK TÜWKi; OK ÜAKKL .... 303 

IMIK-ISRAKLITK CAXAAX . . . . 314 

Nü'i'i''.. — Scveral revi^ions and conection.-> having been le- 
ceived fruin Ihe aiUlioi- after tlie book wa.s in the pie.ss, these 
have been added in an *\ppendi.\ tu Vol. II., and the small 
asterisk * ihrougliout the tc.xt mail^s the passages to whicli ihe 
rcvisions refer. 

The large asterisk ;'; marks passages of astral uiotifs, as 
referred to above in preface to the second German cdition. 



INDEX TO FIGURES 



2. 

3 
4. 

6. 

7- 
8. 

9- 
lo. 
II. 

13. 

13- 
14- 
15- 
i6. 

17- 
i8. 
19. 
20. 

21. 

'j -• 
24. 

^5- 
26. 
27. 
28. 
29. 



Heaven and earth separated by air (the god Shu) 
Boundary stone : time of Nebuchadnezzar I. 

Boundary stone : Merodach-baladan I. | 

r 
[ Signs of the zodiac : year 1 11 7 K.c. j 

Arch, Sargon's palace .... 

Babylonian planetary gods 
Three- or four-storied temple tower | 
Babylonian map of the world / 

Chief points of the sun's course 
Shamash the Sun-god .... 

Sun and moon and Dodekaoros 

C'rreek gern ...... 

Sun and moon with their mythological motifs 

Moon's course and mythological motifs . 

Tablet with heptagram ~| 

Heptagram ]- • 

Pentagram J 

Calendar nail . 

Heptagram with days of week . 

Templum (as hub of the universe) . 

Coptic circle of life ..... 

Janus ....... 

Carthaginian Queen of Heaven 
Hathor-Isis protecting Osiris . 



33- 

34- 
35- 
36. 



Combat of stars against Kingu and Tiamat 

Bull, from Ishtar Gate .... 

Greek sarcophagus : Adonis "j 

Little garden of Adonis / 

Rock-relief at Lebanon .... 

Ea-Oannes, relief from Nimrud-Kalach . 

iMarduk in astral garment 

Sin as New Moon and Venus Ishtar ") 

- seal cyhnders 
Moon-god ) 

Half-moon and band : amulet . 



PAGE 

7 



14 
16 

17 

19 
23 

24 
28 
35 
36 

o7 

40 
44 
54 
64 
72 
88 



90 

95 

97 

99 
105 

106 

109 
HO 



37- 
38- 
39- 

40. 
41- 
42. 

43- 
44- 
45- 
46. 

47- 

48. 

49- 

50. 



INDEX TG FIGURES 

Sun-god of Sippar .... 

Ishtar and child } 

Hathor suckling Usiris <i ' 

Indian Queen of Heaven . 

Yeiled Ishtar (Ashera; . . . . . 

Ishtar as War-goddess ) 

Ishtar as goddess of huntin^:; / 

Ishtar with Shamash .... 

Adad-Ramman "j 

Teshup j . . . ■ • 

Adad-Ramman .... 

Death of Tammu^-Adonis 1 

Lamentation for Tammuz-Adonis J 

Etruscan mirror : Aphrodite and Adonis 

Quetzalcuatl : Mexican god 

Adadnirari III. 's Nebo statue . 



i. 1-Dva'Jon combat : seal cvlinders 



34 

55- 
56. 

57- 
58. 

59- 
60. 
61. 
62. 

63- 
64. 
65. 
66. 

67. 
68. 
69. 
70. 
71. 



74- 
75- 
76. 

77- 
78. 

79- 
80. 
Si. 
83. 
8^ 



n 



Fragment of seal cylinder } 

Snake combat (Williams seal cylmderj \' 

üragon {niitshrusJishu) relief . 

Dragon combat : relief 

Phcenician temple : clay model 

Khnum modeis mankind 

Theophany, from gold rin 

Zeus, nourished by goat 

Sab;ean votive tablet 

Assyrian seal cylinder : sacred tree . 

Sacred tree, with kneeling genii 

Relief from Sargon's palace 

Tree of life with genii : Phcenician ? 

Tree of life, with gods and serpent : seal 

Seal cylinder ..... 

Mexican pictograph ) 

Mexican first human pair ) 
Cylinder ...... 

Seal cylinder, referring to Deluge '^ 
.Seal cylinder j 

Fhrygian coin . 
Tomb of Xerxes .... 

Gilgamesh, the lion-slayer 

Gilgamesh fighting lion ; seal cylinder 

Gilgamesh fighting lion : Assyrian seal cylinde 

Step pyramid, Sakkarah . 

Tower of Nebo, Borsippa . 

Tower of stages, Nippur . 



cylin 



der 



PAGE 

116 
118 
119 

120 

123 
124 
125 

129 

131 

136 

138 

f 146 

< 148 

1 150 

151 

154 
155 
157 
160 

169 

208 
209 
210 
212 

214 
220 
221 

230 



246 

25s 
279 
290 
291 
291 

305 
306 

309 



FIG. 
84. 
85. 

86. 
87. 
S8. 
89. 
90. 
91. 
92. 
93- 
94. 

95- 
96. 

97- 

98. 

99. 

100. 

lOI. 

102. 
103. 
104. 
105. 
106. 
107. 
108. 
109. 

1 10. 

1 1 1. 

1 12. 

[•3- 
114. 
115. 
116. 
117. 
118. 
119. 



INDEX TO FIGURES 

Sumerian head : marble "|^ 

Figure from Telloh, time of Gudea f ' ' ' 

Seal of Sargon I. ] 

Naramsin J ...... 

Naramsin's Stele of victory ..... 

Fragment of goblet : Mycena;an toinb ") 
Headofgoat: ancient Babylonian J 
Woman spinning : time of Gudea 
A'ase-holder : time of Gudea ; 

1 . r ■ 

- Publisher's mark : Roman, si.xteenth Century 1 

Siher vase, with arms of Lagash j 

Headland of Nähr el Kelb \ ' 

Monument from Nähr el Kelb | 

Migration of an Assyrian family ) 

Picture of Semitic family : Egyptian, about 1900 r..C. 

Stone tablet, with likeness of Hammural:»! 

Amorite prisoner | 

15edouin prisoner ) ' 

Lists of Thothmes : temple of Amion 

Princes of Lebanon felling trees 

Israel stele, 1250 B.C. .... 

Amenophis III. : relief .... 

Amenophis lA'. and family 

Wall decoration, 1450 B.c. 

Sethi fights the Hittites : Karnak 

Sethi with Hittite prisoners 

Stag hunt : Hittite .... 

Seal cylinder : Ta'annek ... 

Ishtar of Ta'annek 

Tree of life with ibexes : Ta'annek . 
Incense altar : Ta'annek .... 
Incense altar : Ta'annek ^ 

> Seal cylinders from Teil HesyJ 
Seal of Shema, " servant of Jeroboam '■'■ 



XXVll 

FAGE 

. 316 

■ 317 

. 3'S 

■ 319 



325 
328 
329 
33^ 
334 
335 
336 
338 
339 
340 
343 
344 
345 
346 

347 
348 



ABBREVIATIONS, Etc. 

^. 7?.^., Das Alter der Babylonischen Astronomie; A. Jeremias. (Hinrichs, 

1909.) 
^._/>., Assyriologische Bibliothek, by Delitzsch and Haupt, 1881 ff. (pub. 

by Hinrichs, Leipzig). 
A.O., Der Alte Orient. Publication of the Vorderasiat. Gesellschaft. 

(Hinrichs, 1899 ff.) 
A.O. I., Alter Orient, I. Jahrgang. 
B.A., Beiträge zur Assyriologie, by Delitzsch and Haupt. (Hinrichs, 

1889 ff) 
B.N.T., Babyionisches im Neuen Testament; A. Jeremias. (Hinrichs, 

1905.) 
C.T.^ Cuneiform Texts from Babylonian Tablets in the Brit. Museum, 

1896 ff. 

Handiv., Handwörterbuch ; Delitzsch. (Hinrichs, 1896.) 

G.G.G., Grundrisz der Geographie und Geschichte des Alten Orient ; 

Hommel. 
//.C, Hammurabi Code. 
I-N., Izdubar-Nimrod, eine altbabylonische Beschwörungslegende; 

A. Jeremias. (B. G. Teubner, 1891.) 
K.A.T., Die Keilinschriften und das Alte Testament, ßrd ed., 1903; 

Eberhard Schrader. (English translation 1 885-1888.) 
K.B., Keilinschriftliche Bibliothek ; Eberhard Schrader. (Reuther, 1889.) 
A'.T., Keiünschriftliches Textbuch zum Alten Testament; Windeier. 

(Hinrichs, 1903.) 
Le.v., Lexikon der griech. und römischen Mythologie ; Röscher. 

(Teubner.) 
M.D.P. V., Mitteilungen des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 
M.V.A.G., Mitteilungen der Vorderasiat. Gesellschaft. (Peiser, Berlin.) 
O.L.Z., Orientalistische Literaturzeitung. (Peiser, 1898 ff.) 
P.S.B.A., Proceedings of the Society of Biblical Archseology. 
B.P.T/r, Realencyklopädie für Prot. Theo!, und Kirche, edited by Hauck. 

(Hinrichs, 1896 ff.) 
r.A.B., Vorderasiatische Bibliothek. (Hinrichs, 1906.) 
Winckler, F., Altorientalische Forschungen ; H. Winckler. (Pfeiffer, 

1897 ff.) 

Z.A., Zeitschrift für Assyriologie ; Bezold. 



XXX ABBREVIATIONS 

Z.A. Jl\, Zeitschrift für Alttest. Wissenschaft ; B. Stade. 

Zimmern, Bei/., Beiträge zur Kenntnis der Babyl. Rehgion [^4./)'., xii.]. 

(Hinrichs, 1901.) 
Z.D.J/.C, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft. 
Z.P.V., Zeitschrift des Deutschen Palästina-Vereins. 
I. R. II. R. etc., Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western As'a, Brit. Museum. 
Abh. phil.-hist. Cl. Ko/iij^l. Sachs. Gesell, der U'isse/7sc/iaJfe)i = A\:)h:\x\d' 

lungen der philologisch-historischen Classe der Königl. 

Sächsischen ( lesellschaft der Wissenschaften. 
Genesis, Delitzsch = English, The Chaldean Account of Genesis, 1S76. 

New ed., Sayce. (G. Smith.) 
Asfnili!ivthe?i, Stucken = Astralmythen der Hebräer, Biabylonier und 

Aegypter. 
Hülle utid Paradies, English translation, The Bal^ylonian Conception 

of Heaven and Hell. No. IV. of a series of short studies 

called the " Ancient East," published by D. Nutt, Long Acre. 



THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE 
LIGHT OF THE ANCIENT EAST 



CHAPTER I 

thb anciext-eastern doctrine and the ancient- 
eastern cosmos 

Iktroduction 

The earliest Babylonian vecords known to us so far by the 
excavations in the Valleys of the Euphrates and of the Nile 
do not extend much farther back than 3000 b.c. About 2650- 
2000 Babylon was founded by Sargon and became the metro- 
polis and, at the same time, the centre of Western Asiatic 
civilisation ; and history clearly shows that the 2000 years 
between the founding of Babylon and the subjection of the 
Eastern world to the West were under the intellectual domiiia- 
tion of Babylon. 

But these 2000 years are of a comparatively late antiquity. 
The oldest monunients lead us to infer that a highly developed 
civilisation existed before the Babylonian age, the beginnings 
of which are prehistoric to us and may probably for ever reniain 
prehistoric ; we have no definite knowledge of its origin. But 
one thing is certain : all the Babylonian cuneiform literature 
which we possess, froni the oldest times known to us, belongs 
to periods in which the population had long been Semitic. 
The rise of Babylon to the position of capital city and centre 
of national life took place under the influence of Semitic im- 
migrants.i gut even before that the records show Semitic 

1 The much-misunderstood designation " Canaanite migration " was finally 
determined on by H. Winckler because episodes of this migration were first and 
VOL. I, ^ 



2 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

laiifi-uaffe. Hence there must have been an earlier Semitic 

immigration, at latest about 4000 b.c., which produced the 

Assyro-Babylonian language of the cuneiform inscriptions, and 

it was after the second of the Semitic incursions at the earhest 

that Babylon became the centre of the Oriental world. What 

lies still farther back is in darkness. As philological laws show 

that Babylonian writing is not founded upon the principles of 

a Semitic language, it may be concluded that the lirst Babylonian 

civilisation, especially the discovery of the art of writing, may 

be ascribed to a non-Semitic people ; and since — in very late 

Assyrian records, it is true — there is mention of a "language 

of Sumer and Akkad," we speak of a " Sumerian " civilisation, 

inherited by the Babylonian-Semitic people. 

Nothing can be said with certainty as to the character of this 

first civilisation, which we will call in futm-e " Euphratesian," 

to distinguish it from the later Semitic-Babylonian epochs.^ 

best studied in the country of Canaan, where the immigrants left their impiession 
in characteristics and language, as in a previous migiation to the land of the 
Euphrates (which he therefore calls Babylonian-Semitic). From the same stock 
come the rulers of Sumer and Akkad, also the first dynasty of Babylon (2200- 
1900), the Phoenicians in the West, and perhaps the Carthaginians, the pre- 
Israelite population of Canaan (Amorites and Canaanites of the Bible), the 
Hebrews (belonging to the Habiri of the Amarna period), Edomites, Moabites, 
Ammonites, and also the Hyksos in Egypt. The term may not be a happily 
chosen one, but it is difficult to suggest a better. "Arabian" (Hommel) can 
hardly be entertained, as the name is misleading. " West-Semitic" (lately sug- 
gested by Hommel) includes the Arameans, who formed the next wave of immi- 
gration. In Kampf 7i.m Babel und Bibel (4th ed., p. 12) " Amorite " is suggested 
(and is accepted by Winckler, Auszug aus der Vorderas. Geschichte, p. 3) as a 
part of the racewho rose to power in Babylon called themselves Amuri. In the 
so-called controversy about Babel and the Bible the expression " Canaanite " has 
led to serious misunderstandings. Delitzsch speaks {Babel u. Bibel, i. 46) of 
" ancient tribes of Catiaanite stock who were settled in Babylon about 2500 B.C." 
Nikel [Die Genesis, p. 240) takes his stand upon this, and asserts, " Thus Abraham, 
when he moved to Palestine from Ur of the Chaldees, only returned to the original 
home of his forefathers." Ed. König's Protest Babel u. Bibel, p. 18, adheres to 
this misunderstanding. 

- Comp. F. H. Weissbach, Die Sumerische Frage, Leipzig, J. C. Hinrichs, 
1898 ; Halevy, Le Suiiiilrisme et l' histoire Babylonienne, Paris, 1901 ; F. Jeremias 
in Chantepie de la Saussaye, Religionsgeschichte, iii. p. 262. The present author 
has recorded his "antisumerian" views in the Theologische Literaturzeitung, 1898, 
No. 19. This problem, of immeasurable importance to universal history, as also 
to the history of religion and of civilisation, cannot be solved from a purely 
philological point of view. The time häs not yet arrived to include this pre- 
Semitic race in the Ural-Altaic group (Plommel, latest in G. G. G., pp. 18 ff. ). The 



INTRODUCTION 3 

The hope of solving the problem by new discoveries of yet 
more ancient literary remains has been invariably disappointed. 
The oldest records known beh-ay a Semitic character; coiise- 
quently we still know nothing about the earliest history of 
the country or the beginnings of its civiiisation.^ 

The records in which history first emerges out of the inisty 
darkness of this, to us prehistoric age, show that it was not 
barbaric violence and war which gave impetus to the evolution 
of political and social life, but that together with the niaterial 
requisites of an obviously peaceful development,- the whole 
thought and conduct of the people were governed by a uniform 
intellectual conception. In the remotest times we find, not 
hordes of barbarians, but an established governnient, under sacer- 
dotal control. It was not by the power of the sword that states 
were fonned and civilisation grew, as in Greece and Ronie. 
There appears rather a manner of development seeming to 
contradict laws which one would infer from Western history 
and ethnology. The oldest records, as well as the whole 
civilisation of the Euphrates valley, point to the existence of 
a scientific and at the same time religious system which was 

uncertainty of the readings defeats every attempt to study the language by 
compaiative methods. 

^ The uncertainty of the question to what extent the Babylonians were 
"Semitic" is not of very great importance in studying the history of religion 
and of civilisation, provided we are careful, in using the cuneiform literature, to 
bear in mind that the sociological and ethnological civilisation of two races is 
mixed in the records (see Curtiss, Quellen der ursemitischen Religion, p. 35). 
The terni "Semitic" is primarily used to denote a family of languages, but 
civilisation is not confined by the limits of language, and the ancient Babylonian 
civilisation, whether it were originally Semitic or non-Semilic, became the 
common property of the whole Oriental world, although it developed into various 
forms. In sociological research we have gradually given up the divisions into 
Semitic, Hamitic, and Japhetic Winckler has abolished the conception of 
" Semitism " (and " Bedouinism ") as the foundation of Oriental religion (and 
civilisation), and suggests in its place Arabic-Semitic-Oriental {M.V.A.G., 
1901) ; the title shows an important step in the study of Eastern civilisation. 

- In the oldest Babylonian inscriptions (see Thureau-Dangin, " Sumer-Akkad. 
Königsinschr.," Voräerasiat. Bibl., Stück i.) canal-building is frequently men- 
tioned. Political tumults resulted in the neglect and obstruction of the canals, 
and consequent ruin to the whole country ; therefore in ancient Babylon war must 
have been regarded as a disturbing force, and not as a nieans of development. The 
introduction to the H. C. does not record internal war : the only purpose of war 
was the subjugation of uncivilised hordes. 



4 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

not confined only to the secret teaching of the temple, but 
by which the political organisations were formed, justice done, 
and property managed and protected. The farther we look 
back into antiquity the more absokite is this rule. It was only 
after the fall of the first civilisation of the Euphrates that other 
forces gained in influence. The first system was founded, it 
seems, upon a purely astronomical theory, whei'eas the Semitic 
immigrants in their teaching and culture emphasised the 
earthly phenomena of life and death, dependent, according to 
them, on the course of the stars.^ This view is supported by 
the "Canaanite" forms of worship which agree with the 
Babylonian teaching, namely, the worship of the god of the 
Sun and of Spring, who, after his victory over the Powers of 
Winter, built the world and took charge of its destiny. 

The Ancient-Oriental teaching spread over the whole world, 
and, exerting a different intellectual influence over every civilisa- 
tion according to the peculiar character of each, it developed 
into many new fornis, Egypt and ancient Arabia, and there- 
fore Elam, Iran, Persia, India, China, together with the pre- 
Greek " Mycenaean " civilisation, the Etruscan, and the ancient 
American, all show the same foundation of culture ; the pre- 
historic world of Europe was also influenced by this intellectual 
life, by way of North Africa and Spain on one side, and through 
Crete on the other side, withoat any destructive effect on racial 
and national diff'erences,- 

1 Eshmun, Melqart ; Baalat of Gabal, Tammuz ; Baal, Moloch ; Adad, 
Ashera, etc. 

- One raight call this the universal prhiiitive idea ("Völkergedanke"). But 
the expression has been appropriated by Bastian for the opposite hypothesis, 
according to which the vecurrence of certain ideas is ascribed to the independent 
development of primitive thoughts spontaneously arising in the human mind. Ed. 
Stucken and H. Winckler have shovvn that the Ancient-Oriental conception of the 
universe, as we find it expressed in all parts of the world, entirely precludes the 
possibility of an independent origin in different places, by the exact repetition of 
certain distinctly marked features, which only transmission by a migration can satis- 
factorily explain. For Ancient Arabia, comp. Winckler, " Arabisch-Semitisch- 
Orientalisch," yl/. F. y^. G^., 1901. For Egypt, SQQ deductions in first volume of 
the collection "Im Kampfe um den alten Orient," Die Panbabylonischen, Die 
aegyptische Religion tind der alte Orient, 2nd ed., 1907, Leipzig, J. C. Hinrichs ; 
and earlier, Hommel, Gesch. u. Geogr. des A.O. (also article in Th. Lz,, 
1906). For China, India, Persia, Mexico, and the myths of the South Ai/terican 
aborigines, see Index, under the various headings in question. For transmis- 



INTRODUCTION 5 

We call this teaching " Babylonian "" ^ because the oldest 
and clearest statements of it have been discovered to us 
in the district of Babylon, and because it is foimded on 
astrononiy, which originated in Babylonia. It traces the ovigin 
of all things, the growth of the universe out of " chaos " to the 
present state of the world, and the further course of evolution 
through future aeons tili the destruction and renewal of the 
World. It is identical with religion, and indeed shows signs of 
a latent monotheism. Its characteristic feature is the expecta- 
tion of a Redeemer, proceeding from the Deity, who in the 
course of the ages overcomes the Powers of Darkness. Indica- 
tions will be found suggesting that the transmission of the 
doctrine throughout the world may be placed in the age of 
Taurus, which is contemporary with the time of Sargon I. and 
Naram-Sin." 

In the following sections we attempt to reconstruct the 
Ancient-Oriental teaching and to support each point by 
documentary evidence. The succeeding chapters of the book 
are mainly occupied in tracing the relation between this teaching 
and the Israelite religion. The consistent nature of the 
documentary evidence will clearly explain the Babylonian 
theory, namely, a theological system headed by Marduk as 
summus deus. It will not indeed always be possible to dis- 
tinguish between the " primitive " uncorrupted astral theory and 
the "Canaanite'' theory, which emphasises the phenomena of 
nature.-^ 

sion of ideas into Enropc, see Sophus Müller, Urgeschichte Europas, lix. l86. 
S. Müller shows, for example, that the mythological.figure of the Thunder-god and 
the Symbol of the double hammer travelled from Grffico-Mycenfean Crete through 
Euvope to Scandinavia. In our opinion, this is another case of the great Teaching 
spreading among all nations. See further, on this subject, under " Creation of the 
World," and " Deluge," also p. 87. 

1 Ancient-Oriental is better ; we accepted the distinguishing term " Pan- 
babylonians" as a challenge, but the word "Babylonian" should be taken as 
written with inverted commas. 

" If this date be accepted, we can place a similar phenomenon of transmission in 
the sixth Century B.c., as already noted in another work {Monotheistische Ström- 
ungen, p. 43 seq.), therefore about the beginning of the age of Aries. Both these 
world-wide waves of thought foreshadow the universal religion of Christianity. ^ 

3 Winckler, F., iü. 274 : "I claim to have established a formula which explains 
every concep'tion of Babylonian theology. In mathematics a formula is the 



6 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

I. The Creation 

The chief aim of the Ancient-Oriental teaching is to discover 
and to explain the first cause of visible things. The people 
who speak to us in the oldest records of Western Asia believed 
that the universe was created and is ruled bv a deity. Earth, 
surrounded by ocean and air, is the stage where man, wlio was 
made in the image of God, plays his part. But the earth is only 
a microcosmic image of a celestial M'orld, the " earth "" of which 
is the zodiac, surrounded by Heaven and the heavenly ocean. 

Out of this heavenly ocean the present world, hke others 
before it, has emerged, each successively rising out of the 
primeval waters ^ and building itself from the ruins of the last. 

The initial lines of the Babylonian epic Enunia elish 
(unfortunately defective), which describe the re-creation of the 
world by Marduk, contain obscure allusions to the a?on 
immecliately preceding the life of man. The form of the teach- 
ing is here, as every where, mythological ; it materialises the 
ideas and presents them in the persons of gods. For example, 
in the Babylonian the primeval water is personified in 

Apsü and Tiämat 

(Waters) (Chaos) 

^ ^ , 

and their son Mummu. 
The world completes its cycle and returns to chaos, and out 
of chaos emerges the new world. Chaos is represented 

general expression for the reciprocal connection of isolated facts, which, when it 
has been stated once for all, explains the phenomenon and settles the question. 
One may prove the truth of a formula by countless examples, illustrate it and 
show its praclical utility, but when once the root principle has been found, there 
is nothing further to discover." I acknowledge the truth of this assertion. My 
exposition is intended to classify the theological Systems of Babylon to a certain 
extent, and to form an index of documentary references, or proofs drawn from 
other mythologies, thus making use of the light thrown upon Assyriology by 
Winckler for the Interpretation of Biblical fornisof speech and method of teaching. 
' " The earth was toliu wabohu, and the Spirit of God brooded over Tehoiii " 
(Gen. i. 2). In the ancient Egyptian doctrine of On-Heliopolis, " possessing 
great authority in the most remote ages " (Steindorff), the world arose out of the 
waters Nun. The Babylonian world arose out of Apsu. In an Indian cosmogony 
the draught of eternal life is made by using the Mountain of the World as a 
twirling stick in the ocean. The Northern cosmogony shows the world arising 
from the waters, and so on. 



THE CREATION 7 

mjthologically by the masculine and feminine divinity, whose 
son (the spiritual principle) weds with his mother. 

Damascius ^ saySj he takes Moymis (Mummu) to represent the 
i/or/To? k6(t/j.o<;, '"the intelhgible world," a mental conception of the 
universC;, thus clearly proving that he understood the esoteric 
teaching of the myth (see Chap. III.). Apsu, the realm of water, 
from which the Avorld arose, signifies, accoixhng to its ideogram, 
'•' House of VVisdom." The Babylonian High School was ealled, 
according to V. 11. 65, S3a, bit viummii (comp, also IV. R. 23, No. 1, 
Rev. 25), which is an archaic expression taken from the nomen- 
clatiire of the j^i'hneval world. Mummu is therefore •' Wisdom " 




Fig. I. — Heaven and Earth, separated by Air (the tjod Shu). 
(Egyptian original in the Museum at Turin.) 

(Sophia ; comp. Prov. viii.), whose throne is in the waters and from 
whom proceed the worlds. 

From the union of mother and son (Apsu and Mummu) arises 
thcßrst icorkV It is composed of two regions. Lakhniu and 

^ Neo-Platonist, tenip. Justinian, went to Persia 529 h.D.— Ti-ajis. note. 

- In an analogous presentment the new world proceeds from the phallus of the 
Deity. In the doctrine of On, the god Keb (earth) and the goddess Nut (heavens) 
are united in the waters ; the god Shu (air) separates them by raising up the 
goddess (see fig. i, and compare article by Steindorffin ihz Jahrbuch des Freien 
deutschen Hochstifts, Frank. a/M., 1904, p. 14 1). In a third account, also very 
similar, the vapours rise out of the Underworld (phallus at the door of the Under- 
world in various mythologies ; notice also that the kingdom of Ea corresponds to 
the Underworld, p. 14). This explains the dung-beetle (Scarabjeus) representing 
the new life in Egyptian mythology (düng being the element of the Under- 
world : see Alonoth, Strömungen, p. 16 ; B.N.T., 96). 



8 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

Lakhamu correspond to the celestial world ; Anshar and 
Kishar to the eaithly world in the new seon. This primeval 
universe is the .stage where the gods play their parts ; the 
world of the Triad, Ann, Bei, and Ea, arises. Ea represents 
the Kingdom of Waters, and from him proceeds Marduk 
(Merodach, Jer. 1. 2), by whom the present world was finished 
after the fight with Tiamat (the Ma'rtess of the old aeon, who 
reaches over into the new geon as a destroying power). Here 
therefore also, the waters appear as First Cause. 

Ea and Damkina ^ 

1 
Marduk, the son of Ea. 

Damascius says : "Bei (Marduk), whom thej'regard as the Creator 
of the World, is said to have been the son of Aos (Ea)." 

When this primeval world was threatened by the dark Power of 
Chaos (Tiamat with her companions), Marduk cut the Monsters 
of Chaos in pieces and from these created the present icorldr- 

From a Babylonian record^ of the Creation we learn that 
this present world is considered as a celestial and an earthly 
Whole, and that each of these is divided into three regions : "^ 

1. The celestial world, consisting of — 

The Waters of Heaven. 
The celestial ■■' Earth " (zodiac). 

The North Heaven (with the north pole of the 
universe as throne of the suminus deus). 

2. The earthly world, consisting of — 

The Waters which Surround the earth and which we 
come upon in boring into the earth. 

^ The feminine element reappears here ; but note that Daml<ina is identical 
with the mother goddess in so far as the latter (for example, as Ishara Kakkab 
Tämti, "Star of the Sea ") rises from the ocean. 

^ For detail, see Chap. III., where the account given by Damascius, de priiiiis 
principiis, which fully coincides with the Babylonian texts, is reproduced. In 
connection with the above deductions, comp. VVinckler, F., iii. p. 301 seq. The 
reading (union of Mummu with Tiamat producing the new world) agreeing with 
Damascius was already accepted in A.T.A.O., ist ed., p. 52, on the ground of 
Stucken's arguments. 

^ K. T., 2nd ed., 93 seq., analysed in Chap. III. 

■* Comp. Exod. XX. 4 : "In heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the 
water under the earth." 



THE CREATION 9 

Earth. 

Air,^ The " pole of the earth '' {markas shame u 
hisitim), binds together the earthly and the heavenly 
All, which hang within each other, as it were. 

The Underworld is not a division of the universe in the Baby- 
lonian System, but a "place"; therefore Nergal, the God of the 
Underworld, is not included among the great gods who i-epresent 
the parts of the universe. The people further recognised a natural 
division : Heaven, Earth, and Underworld (such is the Biblical cos- 
mography ; see Chap. IV.). 

Each of the three kingdoms contains exactly " ana,logous " 
(Babylonian ikbf, Hellenistic TrapcwareWeiv)^ manifestations, 
and are respectively the special places of manifestation of Ea, 
Bei, and Anu, or Ann, Bei, and Ea.^ 

It is not counted upwards, but according to the Kibla ^ from 
above downwards (^elish and shaplish). Therefore it is said in 
Tablet IV. of the epic Enuma elish : '' He caused Anu, Bei, and Ea 
to enter into their habitations." 

The anost iniportant regions are, the celestial earth (zodiac), 
because the Divine will is specially revealed there, and earth as 
the abode of man. The celestial earth has therefore^, like the 
terrestrial, three kingdoms: Anu, Bei, and Ea (comp. p. 15, n. 1). 

Marduk, who as the son of Ea created the present world after 
the conquest of the first world (the Power of Darknes.s, repre- 
sented as a dragon : Kingu and Tiamat), corresponds to Mummu 
in the original cosnios. On the other hand, Mummu (i'o;/to? 
KocTßofi in Damascius) corresponds to Ea himself, and in the 
new aeon the Son is, as it were, the Father re-incarnated. 

The emanations of the earthly world will be spoken of later 
(p. 106), namely : 'Ea—ihi amelu, the God-man, and Marduk = 

^ Here dwell the " spirits who hover in the air." 

" Comp. Boll, Sphara, p. 75 seq. ; and in addition Winckler, O.L.Z., 1904, 
59 (= Krii, Sehr., iii. 96). 

^ Each of the three great manifestations of the Deity is complete in itself, and 
therefore is androgynous. Sometimes the masculine and sometimes the feminine 
nature appears, or the feminine principle is added to the masculine : Anu and 
Antum, Bei and Beltu, Ea and Damkina. The word kirhi, "wife "(German, 
Gattin), is ideographically written niii-dingir-ra — that is, Belit-iläni, "Divine 
Lady" (German, Gotterhei-riii). 

•* Kibla, Mohammedan arrangement of the cardinal points : south the most 
iniportant. — Trans, note. 



10 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

Adapa as zer amelid% '' seed of mankind "" : divinity, hero, and 
First Man, the future Adam. 

The reading of ilu amelu as " God-man " is not absolutely 
certain here. It might equally well be " God of man " in the 
sense of a protecting deity. But it is to be noted that in the 
parallelism in IV. R. 7a, Ea is so designated as the father of 
Marduk (he acts " for his son's sake '"). And since Marduk is 
the Divine man ( = Adapa), Ea is the same in the meaning of the 
doctrine (compare the passage in IV. Esra quoted p. 97, n. 5 : 
the Man from the depths of the sea who is to bring deliverance 
to creation) ; for the Son is the re-embodiment of the Father. 

II. The ZoniAC 

In reconstructing the Babylonian doctrine the most important 
division of the universe is the Zodmc^ i.e. that pathway in the 
heavens, 23^ degrees wide, along which move the sun, moon, 
and five planets which are visible to the naked eye, whilst the 
remaining stars appear stationai'y. To the Babylonians the 
mo^•ing stars serve as Interpreters of the Divine \\ill, and in 
relation to these the whole heaven of fixed stars is as a com- 
raentary written along the margin of a book of revelation. 

How did they observe the zodiac ? ^ The Oriental knows the 
heavens better than we Northerners. Every evening and morning 
he may note, thanks to the short twilight, exactly where the moon 
and the sun rise and set in the sky in relation to the fixed stars. 
Observation daily continued showed that in about twenty-eight 
days the same belt of stars invariably passed across the revolving 
vault, or, in other words^ that the moon passes round the same 
path in the heavens in twenty-eight days. The midday position of 
the sun (which can be ascertainjed every twenty-four hours by the 
corresponding place in the night sky) shows the same phenomenon 
in a course of 365 days. Thus were fixed the twenty-seven or 
twenty-eight houses of the moon^ and the twelve houses of the sun 

^ After Epping {Astronoiiiisches und Babylon), Jensen {Kosmologie), and 
Hommel had proved the entire zodiac handed on to us from classical times 
to be of Babylonian origin, Thiele contested their decision {Antike Hiimnch- 
bilder). Compare the recent refutations of his Statements by Hommel, 
Aufsätze und Abhandlungen, 236 ff. ; Boll, Sphcera, 181 ff, ; Kugler, Die baby- 
lonische RIondrechnung, Freiburg, 1900 ; A. Jeremias, Das Alter der babylonischen 
Astronomie, 2nd ed., Leipzig, 1909, J. C. Hinrichs. 

- Comp. Das Alter der babylonischen Astronomie, pp. 42 ff. 





Fig. 2. — " Boundary stone " from 
Abu Habba, lime of Nebuchad- 
nezzar I. (about 1300 B.c.). 



Fig. 3.— Boundary stone. Merodach-baladan I. 
IV. R.1 43. 




Fig. 4. --*ss^B^ --^sssn^^i^,,^ yig. 5. 

Pictures of the signs of the zodiac, from III. R. 45, from the year 1117 B.c. 
(tenth year of Marduk-nadin-achi). 



12 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRIXE AND COSMOS 

which are symbolised by the signs of the zodiac. They saw further 
that not only the sun and moon, but also the five planets (Jupiter, 
Mercury, Mars, Saturn, and Venus), move along this pathway — that 
is, that they never, in their course, overstep the pathway of the 
sun and moon. The central line of this pathway marks the orbit 
of the sun (ecliptic). Ancient-Babylonian pictures (see, for example, 
fig. 2) of animals ruled over by the sun, moon, and Venus — the 
Regents of the zodiac — seem to show that the diagram of the 
Stars of this planet course was represented in pictures in pre- 
historic aaces. 



1 



" Sunt aries taurus gemini Cancer leo virgo 
libraque scorpius arcitenens caper amphora pisces. 

These are the twelve stages of the sun, which correspond to the 
twelve revolutions of the moon. They are considered as " houses " 
or "thrones" of the Supreme Power revealed in the sun. Each 
stage is again divided into three, so there are thirty-six divisions 
formed {decani).^ Another division corresponds to the course of the 
moon ; the twenty-seven or twenty-eight lunar stages serve for 
Observation of the stars surrounding the Pole Star when they 
cross the meridian. 

The Lunar stages offer startling evidence of the eastward move- 
ment of the Babylonian doctrine. Whitney has shown in his work 
Lunar Zodiac that the twenty-eight houses of the moon of the Arabs, 
accepted in the Koran, Sura 10. 5, 36, 39 [jnanäsil al-Kamar, " moon- 
harbours "), the twenty-seven or twenty-eight of Vedic India 
{jiaxatra), and the twenty-eight lunar stages of the Chinese (Jisin, 
i.e. "resting-places," the introduction of which in the Shu-King is 
attributed to the mythical Emperor Yao), though modified by ditfer- 
ent characteristics, are yet all three traceable to a common origin. 

Their source in Babylonia was asserted by Weber (Berl. Ak. 
der IVissensch. phil. KL, 1860 and 186l), and long before him by 
Stern in the Gottinger Gelehrte Anzeigen, 1840 (Anzeige von Ideler, 
Chronologie der Chineseii). Richthofen {China, i. p. 404) accepts 
the conjecture, and says : " Hera we face one of the most remarkable 

' In calendai's with an intercalary month, the raven sitting on a pole is inserted 
as a thirteenth sign (hence it is a bird of ill omen). 

"^ See Enuma elish, Tablet V. : " Twelve months, the stars in three divisions (?) " 
(see p. 31), V. R. 46, where the thirty-six are enumerated with the hinar stages. 
The same in Egypt, proved by Hommel, G.G.G., p. 128, n. 3. Diodorus (ii. 30) 
describes the astral gods of Babylon, and after enumerating the seven planets 
that move along the zodiac, he gives the thirty-six decani (not hinar stages, as 
Winckler assumes in Geschichte Israels, ii. 61). Besides these, there is a group 
of thirty-six stars (his thirty is a copyist's error), called by them counselling gods. 
Half of these are appointed guardians of places above the earth, (the other) half 
of places below the earth, so that they overlook all that passes among mankind 
or in the heavens. A messenger is sent from the lower half to the upper, and 
conversely, every ten days. 



THE ZODIAC 13 

Problems of prehistoric ages, namely, the intercourse of nations." 
The astronomer Kugler, in his book on Babylonian lunar reckonings, 
founded on the records, has shown the resemblance between 
Greek, Chinese, Indian, and Babylonian astronomy. Later \ve shall 
point out indications that the transmission of the idea must have 
taken place in the age of Taurus. The twenty-eight stellar houses 
of the zodiac in Persian astronomy form the last link eastwards 
from Western Asia, even if the docmnentary evidence in Bundehesch 
(vi. 3-15 Westergaard) is of a later date. With regard to Canaan, 
2 Kino-s xxiii. 5, Mazzalot (which elsewhere means a zodiacal sign, 
for example Targiim Esth. iii. 7) and MazäroL Job xxxviii. 22, 
possibly come into consideration. 

The science of the zodiac can be traced in the records back to 
the ao-e of Taurns, i.e. the period when at the spring equinox the 
sun stood in the sign of Taurus. Mythological motifs connecting 
the beffinning of a new era with Gemini (Dioscuros myths) indicate 
that the zodiac was devised in the age of the Twins.i A plani- 
sphere from the library of Assurbanipal, based upon ancient 
calculations, and accepted by Sayce as such, shows a graduation of 
the sun's course, and marks for the zero point a point between the 
Bull and the Twins (-^ Scorpions' Star, 70 degrees ").2 The twelve 
tablets of the Epic of Gilgamesh 3 seem to correspond to the cycle 
of the zodiacal signs. Also Babylonian boundary stones show 
pictures of the sun, moon, and five planets, which, to a certain 
extent, seem to refer to the zodiac (see figs. 2-5). An order 
of zodiacal signs corresponding to the Age of the Ram from pre- 
Greek times has been determined by Epping.^ 

The Babylonian name for the Zodiac is Shupuk shame (literaily, 
^^the piling up of heaven" ):' Any doubt as to its meaning is in- 
comprehentible in face of the fact that we have inscriptions giving 
a clear definition of this expression. In IV. R. 5, when the order 
of the World was threatened by hostile powers, the sun, moon, 
and Venus were set by Bei to rule over the Shupuk shame {" Shupuk 

' Comp. Das Alter der babylonischen Astronomie, pp. 49 ff- Egyptian reckonings 
which go back to an age of " Cancer" are merely fabulous chronology. 

- See Hommel, Aufsätze und Abhandlungen, p. 354 secj. 

^ According to the most prevalent view, they correspond to the order beginning 
with Aries, like the Babylonian months ; the second being Taurus, and the eleventh 
"the Curse of Rain" (Water-bearer, Aquarius). Traces of nomenclature accord- 
in<T to the age of Taurus are extant ; see Hommel, loc. cit., 355 (after Sayce). 
Se^e Izdubar-Nimrod (Leipzig, Taubner, 1891), p. 66 seq. In connection with 
the literature quoted therein, of greatest importance are Hommel, Aufsätze und 
Abhandlungen, 350 seq., and hisquotations from the works of Sayce ; also Eppmg, 
A'^tronomisches aus Babylon. 

■» Astronomisches aus Babylon, 1S2, 190. Recapitulated m Hommel, loc. cit., 

2 38 seq. . , 

5 The ecliptic is calied " path of the sun." See Hommel,. Aujsatze und 

Abhandlungen, p. 356 (Sayce), e.g. IH. K. 53- $6 ^'^q- 



14 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

shame ana shuteshuvu ukinu "). Wheve do the sun, moon, and 
Venus vule ? In the ::odiac : it is the pathvvay upon which they 
move : compare also the boundary stones ; on them we find pictures 
of the zodiacal signs, with the sun, moon, and Venus above them. 
An-Tir-an-na is possibly another name for the zodiac. It is said, 
for example (Asavh. vi. 6), of the half circle ovev the door of 
Sargon's palace, which is decorated with genii ascending or de- 
seending between rosettes, that it is " like An-Tlr-an-na" (comp. 
Meissner and Rost, A.B., iii. 214). This may be an allusion to the 
half circle of the zodiac or to the rainbow which is mythologically 
related to it (see " Rainbow " in Index). In an inscription of 
Shamash-shnm-ukin's it is said that after the victory the soldiers 
danced to music like An-Tir-an-na ; this can surelv mean nothing 




Fig. 6. — Arch {si/iii) from the gate ot Sargon's palace. 

eise than (whip)-"tops," which in fact would jiresent a picture of 
the whirling^ sounding spheres (music of the spheres). 

The Rulers of the Zodiac are 

Sin Shaviash Ishtar. 

According to the law of " analogy " they become 
Anu Bei Ea. 

According to the ancient Babylonian conception, t'imc is equal 
to ."Space. Anu, Bei, and Ea represent space, the cosmos ; Sin, 
Shaniash, and Ishtar represent time, the cycle. (Compai'e nou' 
F. X. Kugler, Entzoickelung der babylonischen Planetenhunde.) 
Sin, the moon, is like Arne, father of the gods and summu.'i 
deus ; Shamash, like Bei, reigns over the zodiac and mani- 
fests himself in the star " towards which the world of man 
looks." Ishtar corresponds with Ea, for the Underworld 



THE ZODIAC 15 

and Äpsü coincide. (In the character of Storni-god, Ishtar 
is replaced by Ädad-Ramman.) Beyond the ocean lies the 
Underworld. 

The zodiac represents the pathway of the earth'.s yearly 
movement, and the zodiacal figures in their course sink into 
the oeean and rise again ; ^ therefore each of the three rulers 
represents in turn the Divine power manifested in this circle. 
In mythological phenomena which mirror the course of hfe, 
or of the world, it should always be noted whether the respective 
characteristics are those of sun, moon, or Ishtar; they vary 
according to place, time, and form of worship. But though 
each part in itself can reflect the complete Divine power, yet 
the three oftenest appear as a triad, and the course of the earth's 
revolution is then pictured as a battle between sun and moon, 
whilst Ishtar "strives to become Queen of Heaven."- 

In addition to the three Rulers of the Zodiac, the four more 
distant planets were known to antiquity (Babyl. mutalliku, 
those who run) : Marduk, Nebo, Ninib, and Nergal, that is, 
Jupiter, Mercurv, Mars, and Saturn ; ^ and as these seven (see 
fig. 7'^) move over the Shupuk shamc, the zodiac, in difFerent 
Orbits and in difFerent periods of time,^ the zodiac is represented 

1 The Upper part (of the zodiac), according to Enuma elish V., is the kingdom of 
Nibiru [z'.e. here = Anu, see p. 2i); the southern part, the kingdom of Ea 
(compare Amphora, Pisces) ; a third part is the dominion of Bei. In another 
conception the path of Ami, Bei, and Ea along the zodiac is mentioned. 

- For details connected vvith this paragraph, see p. 39. 

^ Comp. Hommel, Aufsätze mid Abhandlungen, 373 seq. For the planets in 
Order of succession and their relation to the days of the week, see p. 43 seq. 
"The seven planets govern the world," say the "Ssabians" according to 
Dimeshki, c. 10 (Chwolsohn, Die Ssabier ii. der Ssabismus, ii. 400) ; compare 
especially the Nabatean writings of Maqrisi, ibid., p. 609 seq. 

■* These are the actual planets, not the seven " chief gods " (Hommel). 

^ R. Redlich in Globus, 1903, No. 23 seq., maintains the extreme antiquity of 
exact astronomical science in Babylonia, but endeavours to prove that the "path" 
of the sun, moon, and moving Stars did not originally mean the ecliptic, but that 
all these orbits were measured out in the centre of the heavens within the greatest 
circle of their daily course around the sky, and that accordingly the supposed 
signs of the zodiac on so-called boundaiy stones are connected with the celestial 
equator. The existence of the whole mythological System, based entirely on 
astronomical variations, completely disproves this view. Still, we consider it is 
quile possible that in the populär conception the zodiac was replaced by the 
celestial equator, because the heavenly mountain with the many-storied tower 
would stand straight on the (celestial) equator, whereas on the ecliptic it appears 



16 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 



^ 



as seven diminishing circles/ rising one above the other, like 
a gigantic tower of steps. 

These circles are the seven ÜB {tubul'dti)," corresponding to 
the seven parallel zones upon which the Earthly Kingdom is 
depicted as a moiintain. 

The seventh step leads into the highest heaven, that of 
the god Aim. The step circles, like the zodiac, have twelve 
"stages," in this corresponding to the twelve gates of Heaven. 




Asshur and Antum 
Ana 



Marduk Nebo? Shamash Adad Ishtar 
= Saturn ? = Mars 



Fig. 7. — Babylonian planetary gods, upon the rocks at Maltaya. 

Sometimes there are eight heavens, as in the Temple of 
Bei, the Anu-heaven — later the fixed-star heaven — being tben 

slanting to the observer. Comp. Das Alter der babylonischen Astronomie, 
2nd ed., pp. 44 ff, where the cosmic identity of the step-tower with the double- 
peaked Mountain of the World is also stated (pp. 47 f.). 

' The names of the step-towers give evidence of their cosmic character (Temple 
of the Fifty at Lagash ; E-Ur-(gin-me)-vii-an-ki, "Temple of the seven trans- 
mitters of the commands of heaven and earth." Comp, further n. 2.) The 
ascent was partly by steps, partly by a spiral. In my opinion, this answers the 
questions raised by Delitzsch ander the word sluibiik in his dictionary. The circles 
of Steps reappear in the sephiroth of the Kabbala. Seven of these (three of them 
correspond to the Divinity) are expressly connected with the planets. The seven 
sephiroth are also called the "seven sounds." They 2iXt the notes of the octave. 
The movement of the seven planets makes the harmony of the spheres. 

- Comp., for example, Gudea Cyl. D. 2, 11 ; G. i, 13: Temple E-Ub-vii-an- 
ki, " Temple of the seven 216 of heaven and of earth." The tiibtikäti correspond 
to the seven tabakat of the Koran, as Jensen had already discovered by philo- 
logical inference {Kosmologie, p. 175, n. 3), although he had no idea of 
their actual pictorial form. Winckler, Geschichte Israels, ii. p. loS, n. 6, 
recognised the fundamental likeness. This discovery considerably niodifies the 
conclusions of Zimmern, K.A.T., 3rd ed., 615. Upon the steps up to heaven, 
comp. I Tim. iii. 13. 



THE ZODIAC 



17 



included.^ For nine heavens, for 
the later Chinese Porcelain Tower, 
in. Therefore, together with 
the Temple Towers of seven 
stages, as for example in Bor- 
sippa, representing the seven- 
planet system,wefind also towers 
of three stages (for example, in 
Nippur) (see fig. 8), and of five 
stages (conipare the picture on 
the garment of the god, fig. 47), 
represei:ting the three kingdonis 
of the universe, through which 
the highest heaven is entered. 

Throughout the wholeEastern 
AV'orld we find both seven and 
three heavens.-^ Mohammed tra\ 



instance in the Edda,- and in 
the southern heaven is counted 









9. — Babylonian map of the world. 
Biit. Mus. 82-7-14, 509. 



Fig, 8. — Three- or four-storied temple 
tower. Relief from Kouyunjik. 

eis through seven heavens ; the 
Babylonian Talmud, and the 
fragments of Celsus speak of 
seven heavens.^ Approach to 
the Deity is by the ladder 
of seven planet circles in the 
heavens in the Nabatsean book 
of El-maqrisi. The three- 
storied representation of the 
universe passed into the Gnos- 
tic Systems from Oriental 
mythology, and was continued 
into the dramatic Mysteries 
of the Middle Ages. 



1 The sidratiCl muntaha of the Arabs ; see O.L.Z., 1904, col. 103 
{^Kritische Schrifleti, iii. Iio). Comp. F., iii. 312, 418; M.V.A.G., 1901, 
306 ; and Hommel, Aufsätze und Abhandlungen, 373 seq. Divisions of steps 9, 8, 
7, etc., among the Sabseans ; see Chwolsohn, ii. 34, 243, 673. 

■- My reading of the nio hevnar in Völuspa is thus, as opposed to Golther, 
Germanische Mythobi^ie, 519 seq., " Wliosoever hath passed through the nine 
heimar knoweth all things." 

2 Comp. B.N.T., chap. vii. (the three and seven heavens). Comp, further 
Gen. xxviii. (the ladder to heaven). 

■* Griten contra Ceisum, chap. vi,, 22; see Ed. Bischoff, Im Reiche der 
VOL. I. -* 



18 ANCIENT-E ASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

The meaning of the seven Nagii of the " Babylonian Map" 
(fig. 9, and compave Peisers' deductions in Z.A., iv. p. 36 1) is 
not clear to me. The plan of site seems to be connected with 
the Flood, and in any case the seven triangles niay vepresent the 
corresponding parts " of the celestial caiiseway and the waters 
suvronnding "the earth, and they ave connected with the seven 
cii-cles of the Shupuk which are plunged into the celestial ocean. 
Perhaps also the seven seas of Indian cosmology may be taken 
into consideration and the seven Islands in the sea of the book 
of Enoch, vi. 77, comp. Jensen, Kosmologie, p. 179, and in addition, 
Winckler, Gesch. Isr., ii. p. 109. 

The seven Interpreters,^ besides, are sometimes differently 
grouped together : 2 + 5 instead of 3 + 4. Diodorus Siculus, ii. 
30, before he deals with the clecani, speaks of the ßve plaiiets, 
carefully distinguished by the Chaldeans from the sun and 
moon and held by theni to be Interpreters of the Diviiie Will.- 
Venus then gives up her position as great stellar divinity, equal 
with sun and moon, and joins the ranks of the other planets ; 
as for example in the order of our week-days she takes her 
place last but one : Friday, vendredi ( Veneris dies), between the 
days of Mercury (meTardi) and Saturn (Saturday). 

The planet lists of AssurbanipaFs library run as follows 
(II. R. 48. 48 ff. «, b ; III. R. 5. 65 ff. a) :— 

Sin (Moon). 

Shamash (Sun). 

Dunpauddua (Mercury or Jupiter). 

Dilbat (Venus). 

Sagush- Kaiivan (Mars or Saturn). 

Gudud (Jupiter or Mercury). 

Zalbatanu (Saturn or Mars). 

Gnosis, 131. For Maqrisi, see Chvvolsohn, ii. 609 seq. The Egyptiau Ladder of 
Osiris and the Ladder of Seven Metals in the Mithraic religion harmonise with 
this idea. The five Steps of the Manichxan Bima correspond to five heavens 
(five planets, see p. 38). See BischofT, loc. cit., 79, 90. 

' Bab. ÜB, see p. 16, n. 2 ; Greek epfj.7]vds. Comp. Winckler, F., iii. 198 ; 
Ai/er Orient, iii. 213, 25. Comp, also I. i. p. 10. It is remarkable that the 
Observation of the movements of the planets created the Ancient-Oriental concep- 
tion ; the renewed Observation of the planet courses by Copernicus is the basis of 
the modern conception. 

'^ These five planets with their respective elements and colours play an important 
part in Chinese geoinancy ; see pp. 52, 53, etc. (Index, imder " China "). Each 
ofthe five is both masculine and feminine, and therefore counts double, as, e.g., 
in the week of ten days still used in China. Two days are given to each planet. 



THE ZODIAC 



19 



In Order to make the following clearer, a few astronomical 
phenomena may be mentioned here, and compare therewith tig. 
10. Sunrise is on an average four minutes later every day. This 
gives a spiral line of 180 circles from solstice to solstice. The 
rising and setting points of the sun describe a circular line on 
the horizon^ the mid-day point a corresponding circular line 
in the heavens. Twelve times a year the moon's orbit shows 
the same phenomena. The füll moon Stands in Opposition to 



June 

TroplcofCixnce' 

23"/ 



Equator 




Tropic of 
Capricorn 



tioriion 



11 December 



Fig. ig. — Chief points in the sun's course. 



the sun ; therefore in winter, wlien the sun is moving through 
the lower zodiacal signs, the füll moon is in the upper signs^ 
and in summer the positions are reversed. When it is füll moon 
at midnight of the summer solstice the sun touches its lowest 
point. When the sun is at the winter solstice point, and a dark 
moon begins at the same time, the sun and moon meet in the 
Underworld ; i.e. they are both in the lower signs of the zodiac. 
At the vernal equinox at sunrise, 6 a.m., the füll moon sets in the 
west. At sunset of the autumn equinox^ 6 p.m., the füll moon 
rises in the east. 

The ancients thought the ecHpse oj' sun or viooii to be a swallowing 



20 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

up by the dragon of one ov the other.^ IV. R. 5 sliows that the 
Babylonians knew the importance of the sun's light to the moon ; 
but, as the sun also swallows up all the stavs, he himself sometimes 
figures as a dragon in the myths. They noted that in 18 years 
and 10 Ol- 11 days eclipses were repeated in the same order^ and 
recoo-nised the connection between this phenomenon and the 
moon's course. In 27 days 7 hours 13 miniites the moon moves 
once round the fixed-star heaven, crossing the sun's orbit in an 
"ascending" ("head of the dragon") and a "descending " (" tail 
of the dragon ") node. At the one point of intersection there may 
be eclipse of the sun and at the other of the moon. In each rota- 
tion these nodes move backwards about three breadths of the moon 
towards the west ; this is observable by means of the fixed stars 
with the naked eye. In 183-5 years the nodes have completed a 
circle backwards. There are therefore three movements to dis- 
tinguish in the moon's course : (1) The sidereal revolution from one 
fixed Star back to the same star again = 27 days 7 hours 4.3 minutes ; 
(2) the synodic revolution from the sun back again to the sun (which 
in the meantime has moved backwards about 2 days 5 hours 
1 minute) = 29 days 12 hours 44 minutes; (3) t\\t Dragon month, 
from one ascending or descending node on the sun's orbit to the 
next corresponding one, which meantime has retrograded 2 hours 
38 minutes towards the west = 27 days 5 hours 5 minutes. Tlie 
retrogression of the nodes explains the 18-year periods of the 
eclipses.- Solar eclipse takes place when the moon is in proximity 
to the sun and at the same time reaches a node ; tluis, when a 
synodic and a Dragon month begin simultaneously. The Baby- 
lonians reckoned (the Chinese possessed the same knowledge) that 
223 synodic months make 242 Dragon months, that is, 6585 days, 
or 18 years 10 or 11 days. Thaies, taught by the Chaldeans, cal- 
culated by this raeans the solar eclipse of May 28, 585 b.c. 

The time of revolution of the seven planets -^ (including sun and 
moon). The movement of the five true planets is in the form of 
a loop. Variation from the circle is small. 

1. The Moon. For her revolution see above. She does not move 
more than ] degrees away from the ecliptic. 

2. Mercuri/ is morning and evening star, and is therefore also 
sometimes called Dilbat. It is only visible when twilight is 

^ A myth of the fight between the moon and the seven evil spiiits (Powers of 
the Underworld) is tvanslated Chap. IL, ander " Sin." On a boundary stone 
from Susa the new moon and the sun appear as oiie, together with the picture of 
the eight-rayed Venus; see A. Jeremias, article on "Shamash" in Roscher's 
Lexikon der JMythologic. 

"^ Comp. Das Aller der babylonischen Astronomie, 2nd ed. 

■' A unity of seven planetary gods is certainly to be assumed as already existing 
in ancient Babylonia. Sun, moon, and Venus are the ruling triad in the ancient 
records ; Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, and Saturn make their appearance together as 
mythical gods in the Babylonian story of the Deluge. 



THE CULMINATING POINT OF THE UNIVERSE 21 

short.i It coiiipletes the civcle round the ecliptic in one year 
and one day. 

3. Venus, like Mercury^ ahvays in close proximity to the sun, 
appears as morning and evening star^ and in 1 year and 7 months 
moves again into the same position in regard to the sun. Her 
revolution appi'oaches nearest to the sun's orbit. 

4. Mar!; takes 2 years 49 days to return to his original position. 
The remarkable red colour contributes to its character as the 
planet of misfortune. 

5. Jupiter, the brightest star after "\^enus, passes on an average 
through one zodiacal stage every year. The Babylonians possibly 
knew its satellites. 

6. Saturns revolution takes 29j years. The movement is so 
slow it can only be observed in the neighbourhood of bright, 
fixed Stars. 

HI. The Culmjnating Point ov the Universe 
1. N'ibiru 

In the Babylonian epos Marduk at the building of the worlds 
places " the Manzaz, the standing-place of Nibiru,"" in order to 
form the " knot " - of the courses of the stary. The solstice 
point m the cycle is this Nibiru ; in the cosmic picture it is the 
" Pass " between the two peaks of the Mountain of the World, 
above which the smnnms cleus is enthroned.^ 

This summiis deus may be especially : — 

1. Ann, as in the fifth tablet of the epic Eninna ehsh, where 
the zodiac is divided between Ann, Bei, and Ea, and the upper- 
most part is given to Anu, corresponding to his throne in the 
north heaven when the universe is divided into tln-ee parts. In 
the text of the deluge story the heaven of Anu is the highest 
heaven. 

1 Had the ancients optical instruments ? and can vve thus explain their observa- 
tions of Mercury (?) and Venus in different phascs, Ihe moons of Jupiter (?), etc. ? 
The invention of the telescope in a.D. i6oS may mean the rediscovery of a miiacle 
of civilisation lost for thousands of years. 

- Compare the eight- or sixteen-rayed ideogram for God, which, according to 
Jensen and Zimmern, denotes the meeting of the meridians at the celestial pole. 
See p. 50, n. I. 

3 Upon Nibiru, properly " pass,'" as solstitial point, compare the evidence cited 
lipon the culmination of JNIarduk. Upon the cosmic Nibiru, compare the follow- 
ing section upon the Mountain of the World, and what has been said upon Sichern, 
p. 24, n. 4. On the Greek race-course, which had a cosmic meaning (comp. 
Zech. vi. I ff.), the pass which the runners passed through between meta and 
the boundary corresponded to Nibiru. 



22 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

2. Ninib. In division of the zodiac into four or two 
dominions (the latter counting by the solstices) the north 
point, the turning-point of the summer solstice (which, follow- 
ing the law of analogy, corresponds in the zodiac to the north 
point of the universe), belongs to Ninib. Therefore the step 
tower of Lagash, dedicated to Ningirsu-Ninib, is called " House 
of the Fifty " ; " fifty " signifying, however, the conipletion of the 
circle (see p. 32). Ninib is therefore called imtkU markus shainc 
u irtsitim^ " overseer of the pole of heaven and earth." 

3. Srn^ who as fidl moon reaches its highest point at the 
north when the sun Stands in Opposition at the southern point 
of the universe (belonging then to the sun). For the moon, 
because of its continual return to life, suggesting resurrection 
from the dead, is held in antithesis to the sun, in whose light 
the stars disappear. Hence results the equation already found, 
which under certain circumstances identifies Anu, Ninib, and 
Sin. See article on " Ramman "" in Roscher's Lexikon de?' 
Mythologie. 

4. Aclad-Rainmayi, God of Storni, in so far as, under certain 
circumstances he, " the GU-GAL of heaven and earth,'' appears, 
like Ninib, as summus deus. 

5. Marduk (Merodach) as sw/nnus deus, Deniiurgos, repre- 
sentative of the circle of the universe. (V. R. 46. 34c ; comp. 
II. R. -54, No. 5, obv. col. 11. 6.) In the last fablet of the 
epic Enuma elish it is said of him: 

" The Kirbish-Tiämat he strode through, without resting ; 
His name be Nibiru, which contains [the middle] ; 
He who fixes the courses of the stars of heaven, 
Like sheep shall pasture the gods all together." 

As Nibiru, Marduk is also designated by the number 50, being 
the number representing the complete circle. The statement 
of the Astronomical Text, III. R. 54, No. 5, agrees with this : 
" When the star of Marduk stands in the centre (kabal) of the 
heavens, he is called Nibiru. '"■ ^ 

^ Comp. p. 85, when Marduk, nianifested in twelve forms in the month of 
Teshrit, also bears the name of Nibiru (III. R. 53, Sii^). The passage refers to a 
calendar according to which the year, and therefore the orbit of the universe, 



THE CULMINATING POINT OF THE UNIVERSE 23 

As Nibiru, Marduk is identical with Ninib in the Babylonian 
doctrine, and Ninib again is identical with the " Canaanite " Adad- 
Ramman (Teshup of the Hittites, German Thor), the god with 
double hammer and shafts of forked lightning (see Chap. IL, undev 
Eamman)} The northern point of the ecliptic, which in the age 
of Tauriis was in Leo, corresponds to the Fire Kingdom (zenith of 
the sun's course, region of meteoric showers) ; hence the mytho- 
logical character of ' this divinity as ''the smith." Also it is the 
tm-ning-point of the moon's course (motif of lameness).^ The 
Jlenj passage, known also to the Gnostics (Purgatory !), led into the 
highest heaven. 




Fig. II.— Shamash the Sun-god entering the eastern gate of heaven. 
(Seal cylinder No. 89,110 of the Brit. Mus.) 



2. Tlic Double-2Jcak-ed Mountain of the World 
The culminating point of the celestial " eartli '' (the zodiac) 
appears in Babylonian niythology as a double-peaked mountain. 
Above this mountain is the vault of the north heaven with the 
north pole of the universe, which was held to be the throne of 
the summm deus. Corresponding to cycle and cosmos, the 
cosmic throne of God appears also as a double-peaked moun- 
tain. " Scientifically " the two peaks correspond to the highest 
points of the monthly lunar and yearly solar orbit.^ The corre- 

began in autumn, and yet in which Jupiter- Marduk retained the röle of beginner 
of the cycle, which, properly speaking, belonged to MercuryNebo (comp. p. 26). 
1 Comp Donar in Donnerstag, in place of Jupiter [jeudi, [ovis dies). 
■^ Comp. H. Winckler, F., iü. 82 ; AI. V.A.G., 1901, 356- Details, p. 31- 
3 Upon this, see description and drawing in Das Alie?- des babylonischen Astro- 
nomie 2nd ed pp. 16 f., where there is a picture of the Babylonian double-peaked 
mountain with the Deity standing above the summit. Winckler's idea of the 
defile between two mountains, and of the peaks as antipodal pomtsofthe universe, 
canhardly be correct (/'., iü. 306; M. J'.A.C, 1901, 241 f.). 



24 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 




sponding points on the horizon give further the two-peaked 

'' Mountain of the East '' and " Mountain of the West." In 

the winter solstice the sun sets at the lowest, while the füll 

moon rises at the highest point of the horizon ; in the summer 

solstice the reverse.^ 

Since the earth and every countiy upon it correspond as a 

microcosmos to the celestial 

picture, it follows that the 

" Mountain of Countries "" (Jiar- 

sag hurlcura, shad matäti), the 

sunnnit of the earthly universe, 

niust be a double mountain. 

In the niyth the two peaks 

correspond to the two trees in 

Lhe cosmic sanctuary (Para- 

dise), one signifying Life, the 

other Death ; conipare Helios 

and Selene as centre, i.e. sunimit 

^^^•}^--f^'' ^''^^'^°f ^' ^"""""^^ ^^ of the züdiac, and Dodekaoros 
the zoQiac and Dodekaoros upon an 
Egyptian marble plate.^ on an Egyptian niarble slab 

(flg. 12), and also the trees 

Helios and Selene, found by Alexander as Substitute for the 

Deity in Paradise.^'' 

Each countiy as uiicrocosmos has its own double-peaked " Moun- 
tain of the World." In the Biblical presentation this is particularly 
obvious in Ebal and Gerizim, Deut. xi. 29, xxvii. 12, the most ancient 
places of worship on Israelite territory, Avhere six tribes (corre- 
sponding to six "■ houses " of the zodiac, symbolising the half of the 
sun's orbit) stood upon the Mount of Blessing (Gerizim), and six 
stood opposite upon the Mount of Cursing (Ebal).'^ 

^ Fig. II possibly shows the mountain, with the Sun-god emeiging from 
between the two peaks. Compare the two mountains in Zech. vi. 1-7, from 
between which the four chariots come forth, drawn by four spans of horses, which 
are the four corners of the world. The original myth had four horses to one 
chariot. 

^ See Boll, SpJuzra, table vi. 

■' Winckler, O.L.Z., 1904, 103 {= Kritische Schriften, iii. Iio); Geschichte 
Israels, ii. 108 ; M. V.A.G., 1901, 306, 345. Further, on the Coptic tablet, p. 64, 
fig. 22, the circle of the universe (recognisable by the serpent and the four 
animals representing the corners of the world) has the sun and moon for its centre. 

■* Upon the land as microcosmos, see pp. 53 ff. For the signs of the zodiac as 



THE FOUR POINTS OF THE ITNIVERSE 25 

IV. The Four Points of the Universe 

The Orbits of the moon and of the sun are divided, like the 
non-circiimpolar stars, into two natural halves by the arch of 
day and night (see fig. 10). The points of intersection at the 
bes-inninw of each six months are characterised as the vernal 
and autumn points of the sun and also by certain stages of the 
moon^s course. 

In the zodiacal age, i.e. by calendar reckoning starting froni 
the vernal equinox in the sign of Taurus, the east point is very 
probably Aldebaran, brightest star in the Hyades, a group 
belonging to the constellation Taurus, and the west point is in 
Scorpio/ almost certainly the star Antares, about 180 degrees 
distant from Aldebaran. These two stars represent in ancient 
astronomy the first and fourteenth lunar stages, thus dividing 
the twenty-eight stages, which are otherwise at varying distances, 
into equal halves. 

This double division, by the halves of the nioon's orbit and 
by the equinoctial points,"- corresponds to another division of 
the cycle according to the solstices, which shows the " arch of 
day and the arch of night," i.e. the visible and invisible part 
of the zodiac diflferently (for the geographical latitude of Baby- 
lonia, 5 : 7). This bipartition appears to be the niore ancient 
in Babylonia. The conibination of the two divisions gives a 
quartering of the zodiac into the seasons with four cosniic 
critical points. Now, according to the Babylonian conception, 

Symbols of the Twelve Tribes, see Gen. xlix. : also the symbohsm of the 
•' Tabernacle," 

The sun and moon as the points of life and death (pp. 30, 34 ff.) correspond 
respectively each to six signs of the zodiac of summer and winter. Upon the meaning 
of Sinai and Horeb, Mountain of the Moon and Mountain of the Sun, Ebal and 
Gerizim, see Winckler, F., iii 360 ff. The name Sichern (Shekem) has a cosmic 
meaning ; it signifies the same thing as the Babylonian name discussed on p. 21, 
' pass," " highway." The rupture of the tradition between Sinai and Horeb 
perhaps arose when the meaning of the double-peaked mountain (Sinai = moon, 
Horeb = sun) was no longer understood. Near Tokyo a double-peaked mountain 
is the holy place of the Creator brother and sister of the Shinto religion ; they 
correspond to sun and moon. 

1 In the epic of Gilgamesh the Underworld is guarded by scorpion-headed men. 

- Shitkuln, i.e. "hold the scales," for example, III. R. 51, is the technical 
expression for equinox. 



26 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

the Divine Power manifests itself in the four critical points.^ 
Since each of the three great star Divinities which rule over the 
zodiac manifests himself hkewise in two half or four quarter 
phenomena (moon and Venus as true planets have always four 
phases, and the seasons of the year serve as phases of the sun), 
the points are suitable places for an embodiment of the Divine 
Power. And as the sun, moon, and Venus always have a 
critical point (apogee or turning-point of the orbit), a certain 
point of the zodiac belongs to each of the four "phases" as 
special place of manifestation in the universe, 

Since in the three thousand years of history known to us the 
constellations have passed through great changes, it follows of 
necessity that a mythology founded upon phenomena of the 
stellar System must also undergo change. And it being a 
question of a circle completing itself in the antitheses of night 
and day, summer and winter (summer and winter of the 
universe), there arises the principle that the antitheses in 
course of time change places. In the age of Hammurabi 
(Babylon's supremacy) the four chief points of the solar orbit 
were apportioned as follows : ^ 

Marduk : Morning, Spring ] East and North, the two light 
Ninib : Mid-day, Summer j halves of the year "and day. 
Nebo : Evening, Autumn ] West and South, the two night 
Nei-gal : Night, Winter ) halves of the year and day. 

Accordingly, thereforC;, to Marduk belongs the Morning of the 
Spring equinox (sunrise of the Spring sun on 21st March, 6 a.m.) ; 
to Nebo, the evening of the Autumn equinox (21 st Septembei*, 
6 p.m.); to Ninib, the Summer solstitial point (2 Ist June, 12 mid- 
day : from that time the sun sinks into Winter and the Realm of 
Death ; this is the turning-point, the Tammuz point) ; to Nergal, 
the Winter solstitial point (2 Ist December, midnight : from then 
the sun again ascends).^ 

^ Three, when the Underworld point is omitted ; for example, three pillars of 
heaven among the Sabasans (Chwolsohn, ii. 6) : East, Centre (of the heavens), 
and West. 

- A fifth direction, tipwards, was possibly represented by Venus, who is united 
with sun and moon in the Triad, but who appears, on the other hand, as 
belonging together with the four planets. The character of Venus as Queen of 
Heaven would correspond to her character as " upward direction." 

3 This "exchange in the order of the planets" demonstrated by Winckler and 
Hommel has been vehemently disputed by Kugler, loc. cit. See upon this my 
deductions in A.B.A., 2nd ed., pp, 76 ff. 



THE FOUR POINTS OF THE UNIVERSE 27 

In periods preceding the age of Hammurabi, as in the epochs 
aftei- the destruction of Babylonian supremacy, the order was 
reversed for reasons which should be clear from the following 
deductions : 

Jupiter (Gudud-Marduk) takes the place of Mercury (Nebo). 

Mcrcurij (Dunpauddua-Nebo) takes the place of Jupiter 
(Marduk). 

Mars (Keiwan-Ninib) takes the place of Saturn (Nergal). 

Saturn. (Zalbatanu-Nergal) takes the place of Mars (Ninib). 

These chief points of the zodiac answer according to the 
law of parallels (zodiac as celestial microcosmos) to the four 
Corners of the world.^ In so far as they refer to the zodiac, 
the sumniit of which is seat of the sttinmiis deus, they are the 
four supporters of the throne of the suvimus deiis, and they 
appear embodied in the corresponding figures of the zodiac : 
Taurus (bull), Leo (lion), Eagle,^ Man,^ (Aquarius). 

In this we find the explanation of the Merkaba * (four beasts^ 

^ The earth has four corners to correspond, whence come the four winds. See 
Rev. vii. i. 

- The eagle is the bird of the suinnitis deus. Compare the eagle on the shield of 
Ningirsu (Index, under " Eagle"), the eagle in the cosmic picture of the world, 
(fig. 13), the eagle of Jupiter of the classic period, the eagle in the Mithraic 
mysteries (see Monotheist.-Ströiiitingen, p. 17); further, Rev. viii. 13, the eagle 
at the sound of the four trumpets (motif of Marduk-Jupiter, see B.N.'J'., pp. 25 f.). 
The sign of the Eagle is between Aquarius and Capricorn, a part of the heavens 
where very bright stars show, and not far from the zodiac. It might very 
probably be included in the actual signs of the zodiac on account of Acair, the 
brilliant star in the Eagle. Comp. A.B.A., 2nd ed., p. 48 f. ; Zimmern, 
K.A.T., iii. 6S1 f. ; and (diftering) Winckler, F., iii. 299 ff. In the course of 
time the Eagle deviates further from the region of the zodiac ; Winckler, F., iii. 
297, diftering further. 

•' Probably corresponding to Scorpio and Arcitenens, represented as one picture 
by the Babylonians (comp. Izdjibar-Nimrod^ p. 67), with which compare the 
Scorpion-men in the epic of Gilgamesh, vvho guard the Underworld, and to 
whom, therefore, the autumn point of the cycle corresponds. Also Amphora, 
Water-bearer (Aquarius of Manilius and Ovid), may be considered. Note that the 
First Man (Adapa) rises from the ocean, and that Ea { — iln auteln) is god and man. 
See Chap. III., under " Creation of Man." Comp, also Heuzey, I\ev. d. Ass. et 
d'Arch, Orient., pp. I29ff. , and Hommel, G.G.G., 227, n. 7, where the Fish- 
man is made equivalent to the ilu-a7nehi of the mythological texts and to Aquarius 
in the zodiac. 

^ The Merkaba is the heavenly throne or chariot of Ezekiel ; JMa'asch 
Merkaba, the lore concerning the chariot. Many references to this occur in 
rabbinical sayings, Thus Sandalfon ("the angel of prayer," see Longfellow) is 



28 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 



tetramorph) of Ezekiel and of the throne with the four beasts, 
suiTOunded by the sea of glass (Rev. iv. 6; comp. B.N T., 13) — 
and of the .sijvibols of the four Evangeli.st.s (according to Irenaeiis^ adv. 

hier., 3. 11, the four 
pillars of the world ; 
seeB.X.T.,S7). The 
Order, Matthew, bull; 
Mai'k, lion ; Luke, 
man ; John, eagie, 
corresponds to right, 
left, below, above. 
In Ezekiel the bull 
is to the left, there- 
fore the Kibla is 
"oriented" to the 
south (comp. p. 32) ; 
in front, man (begin- 
ning of the world, 
see p. 6) ; behind, 
the lion (Fireflood 
in Leo, the north 
point) ; right, eagle. 
For detail see Ezek. 
i. 4 ff. Fig. 13 shows 
the zodiac and the 
Corners of the world 
in the Grecian age : 
Jupiter (highest at 
the north point), 
Neptune, Mars, and 
Mercury. The Coptic 
l)icture reproduced on p. 6i shows sun and moon in the middle 
of the circle of the universe symbolised by the snake and four 
beasts. See p. 24, n. 3. 




Fig. 13. — Greek gern, Tetraktis dodekapyigos from 
Kircher's CEdipus Aigyptiaciis, ii. 2, 214, iii. 24S. 



DOCUMKNTAIIY EviDKXCK OF THE ArRANGEAIENT OF THE 
"CORXEKS OF THE WoKLD '' IN THE ZoDlAC'AJ. AgE 

There is no text which says Marduk-Jupiter corresponds to 
east, Nebo to west, etc. ; the evidence is gathered from the sense 
of the calendars and from mythology, yet there are occasional 
instances of cuneiform Statements 



Said to stand behind the IMerkaba. The Hekalot or books of Enoch are calied 
■\Ierkaba. 

A Vision of the Merkaba was brought aboiit by fasting. The ascetics who 
attained to this vision were thought to ride in the chariot of the Meikaba. The 
idea of the ride is of Mithraic origin. 



THE FOUR POINTS OF THE UNI VERSE 29 

1. Marduk = the Spring or East Point 

The spring or east point belongs in the historical age of Babylon 
to Marduk, for Marduk's festival is the New Year feast, festival 
of the spring equinox. Of the four ])lanets amongst whom the 
Corners of the world were divided, the New Year's point probably 
belonged in a prehistoric age to Mercury, whose name Nabu, 
•' Foreteller," cliaracterises him as Morning Star, therefore as 
bringer of the new day^ of the new age, of the new eycle. The 
year must, according to this, have begun in autumn. Under the 
dominion of Babylon, Marduk, whose planet Jupiter has its ruling 
point at the east point of the universe, became the Bringer of the 
New Age. In K. 759 (Thompson's Reports, No. 189) it is said : 
" When the star of Marduk is seen in the beginning of the year, 
the growth of plants will thrive that year." This star is Jupiter. 
When Mercury is praised as the New Year star of good fortune in 
other texts (Kugler, Sternkunde, vol. ii.), it corresponds to the 
older teaching. "Upon this, and especially upon the exchange in 
the roles of Marduk and Nebo, see A.B.A., -^nd ed., pp. \6 ff. ; in 
addition also p. .'30, n. 2. 

2. Xeho cd the Autumn or West Point - 

A text dating from the Arsacid age (250 b.c. -230 a.D.), but 
which certainly reflects ancient ideas (for in later tinies they did 
not invent sucli things, only speculated about them), says that at the 
Winter solstice the " daugliters of Ezida " (priestesses of the temple 
of Nebo at Borsippa) remove to the " House of Day " {i.e. the temple 
of Marduk of Babylon) "to lengthen the days," and that in the 
Summer solstice the " daugliters of Esagil" remove to the "House 
of Night" {i.e. the tempfe of Nebo of Borsippa) ^' to shorten the 
days " : that is to say, the light half of the year, the east point, 
belongs to Marduk, the dark half to Nebo ; and at the equinox 
each one solemnly abdicates his rule to the other.- Theocritus 
liands down to us the same astral mythological idea {Id., xv. lO.S, 

1 Compare the Greek Hermes (Mercury), biformis, with parti-coloured black-and- 
white cap, as guide to Hades. Libra belongs to the autumn ; but it symbolises 
the scales of the dead, not the autumn equinox, otherwise it would appear in the 
spring quarter as well. " Sol exaltatur in ariete, in libra dejicitur" (Firmicus). 
Next to Libra comes the Serpent, because the equinoxes begin with the rise of the 
star Serpentarius. Hence, in Roman mythology, /Equitas holds the scales in her 
right hand, and serpents lie at her feet, and Proserpina Libera (Venus in Hades) 
has a girdle of snakes. 

- Comp, most recently Winckler, F. iü., 27S ff., contrary to H. Zimmern's 
remarks, K.A.T., iii. 400; A. Jeremias, A.B.A., p. 78. Certainly Zimmern is 
rio-ht in observing that the connection between Nabu and Capricorn (Goat-fish), 
V. R. 46, 38, argues a connection between this divinity and the winter season 
(autumn equinox) ; but there are no grounds for the assertion that this connection 
existed in the earliest times. 



30 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

106) when he says of Tammuz-Adonis, the ancient Eastern diviiiity 
witli charactei-istics of the year, or half-yeav (Marduk + Nebo) : ' " He 
completes his ascent and descent in twelve months, and the Horse " 
(this also explains what is meant by " daughters of the House of 
Day" and " daughtevs of the House of Night") '"'accompany him 
from the reahn of Proserpine (Ishtai* of the winter half) into the 
dwelling of Venus (Ishtar of the summer half) " ; these " dwellings '' 
signifying the "Houses" possessed (fig. 2) by stars and con- 
stellations in the zodiac, which is divided into two halves by the 
equator and equinoctial points. Conipare furthev the passage in the 
liturgy of Mithra (Dieterich, p. 7) : " Thou shalt behold the divine 
Order (!) ; the gods who rule the day ascend into heaven^ and the 
others descend " (i.e. the zodiacal figures descend) ; '^'^and the path 
of the visible gods will appear by means of the sun." 

3. Nergal at the Winter or South Point 

Nergal has charaeteristics of the Underworld^ which is also 
named after his place of worship^ Kutha. Therefore only the 
unseen — that is, the " under "-lying — south point belongs to him ; 
Nergal-Saturn is cxplicitly made synonymous with the siui by the 
Babylonians (comp. Thompson's 7Vey;o?-^ No. 176, Rev. 1: Lubat 
Lagush, Saturn = Star of the Sun). An astronomical text - says: 
" On the 1 8th of Tammuz Nergal descends into the Ünder- 
world^ and on the 28th of Kislev he ascends again. Shamash and 
Nergal are o?;e." Eratosthenes, " Simplicius," and Diodorus attest 
the same. The sun is represented as Underworld divinity because 
in his light the stars disappear and perish ; the moon, on the 
contrary, as Upperworld divinity because in her ever-recurrent 
renewal she represents the resurrection from the dead {I^ihii sha 
ina remanishu ibbanu, i.e. " Fruit which reproduces itself from 
itself"). The Egyptian of the middle kingdom says to the 
mummy : ''Thou art Osiris ! " (moon in the same sense) ; that is, 
" Thou shalt live again I 

4. Kinih at the Summer or North Point 

When the sun is at the south point, in the Underworld, the 
place assigned to him in the universe/ the moon is diametrically 
opposite, at the north point, the hinar point in this System, as we 
have already recognised in the Anu-point (Ana ^ Sin ; see p. 14, 
comp, p. 36). That it should also belong to Ninib is to be 
expected, since the three other corners of the world are disposed 

1 See p. 35. 

^ Zimmern, K.A.T., 3rd ed., 3S8 ; also Winckler, /"., iii. 2S6 ff. The passage 
in Diodorus so often quoted (ii. 30) makes Kronos and Helios equal. 

^ In the Kabylonian calendar, this occurs when the solstices are emphasised 
(the middle of the season, division of the year into quarters). Then Marduk is 
the sun, and Nebo the moon, as in the text quoted, p. 32. 



THE FOUR POINTS OF THE UNIVERSE 31 

of to Marduk, Nebo, and Nergal. Bat Ave may ])rove it another 
way. This point is called Nibiru^ that is, the Pass through which 
everyone must go, and farther northwards than which he cannot 
go (see p. 21). The epic Enuma elish describes on the Fifth 
Tablet {K.T., p. 122 f.) the establishment of the Nibiru point. We 
will tiy to analyse the difficult passage (continuation p. 113): 

'• He made the abiding-places of the great gods ; constellations 
in their likeness he placed as Lumashi-stars (houses of the 
zodiac ?). He detevmined the year, marked the boundaries ; 
twelve months ; he fixed the stars in three divisions (the so-called 
tliirty-six decani, which are in three divisions, four stages to each, 
and of wliich again each one belongs specially to Ann, Bei, and 
Ea ? — or is the division of the year into three parts, analogous 
to the tliree great gods, meant?). iVftei- he had established firm 
seetions fov the days of the year, he erected the Station at Nibiru to 
mark their (the stars') knot. In order that none (of the stars) should 
go wrong, none go astray, he established besides the stations of Inlil 
and Ea " (Variation Anu is surely an error ; Nibiru marks Anu's 
j)rovince in the zodiac). '-He opened doors on both sides " (the 
equinoctial points in east and west and also the doors of sim- 
rise and sunset),^ ^-'made a firm barrier toleft and right" (i.e. north 
and south), ''in the centre (of the gate) he placed tiie eltdH{})." 

Note further, that in the final tablet of the epic Marduk has fifty 
titles, of which the highest is Nibiru (see p. 22). Fifty corresponds 
to the number and the ideogram of Ea, and denotes the complete 
circle of the universe embodied in Marduk.- Now, since it is dis- 
tinctly attested that the previously mentioned " House of the Fifty " 
in Lagash (p. 22) (a seven-storied temple) belongs to Ningirsu- 
Ninib (see Winckler, M.V.A.G., 1901, 35Q), it is thereby indirectly 
attested that the north point belongs to Ninib-Mars, with which 
conclusion also all the phenomena correspond. Since, further, as 
we have already seen, Nibiru is the lunar point, it follows that 
Ninib-Mars may be identified Avith the moon (she is therefore called 
Nibiru) as Nergal-Saturn with the sun.^ The north point is 
mythologically important as critical point both of sun and of moon. 

^ Compare the presentment on the cylindrical seal, fig. ii. 

" Accordingly, he is called " he who grasps the head and tail " (//? stsabit j-eshit 
arkat), Winckler, K.T., 2nd ed., 128, "he who makes the forepart the hindpart." 
This recalls the symbolic presentment of the universal orbit, showing a serpent 
biting its own tail, which is found on Egyptian, Hindoo, and Phcenician monu- 
ments : e.g. the upper rim of a Phcenician sacred vessel in the Vorderasiatisches 
Museum in Berlin ; also the representation of Eternity on Roman coins. In the 
Coptic picture of the universal orbit, p. 64, the figures of cherubim indicate the 
four Corners of the world within the circle of the serpent. 

" On this point see Winckler, F., iii. 193, 20S ; H/.J'.A.G., 1901, 266; and the 
proof supplied by the Egyptian list of five intercalary gods bringing the 360 days 
of the year up to 365. Saturn (sun !), Mars (moon !), Mercury, Venus, Jupiter : 
see Spiegelberg, O.L.Z., 1902, 6 ff. 



32 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRLNE AND COSMOS 

In the sun's cycle it is the summei- solstice point, which in the 
cycle of the year brings destroying heat and in the cycle of the 
universe bring-s the conHao-ration of the worlds. The Fire Realm 
(cleansing fire and passage into the Anu-heaven) is a Substitution 
fov it ; from thence fire comes to the earth (meteor showers in mid- 
summer), and there is the point of the "lame smith " ; comp. p. 23). 
In V.R. 46, No. 1, Rev. 41, when a planet which kills the cattle is 
called (Liibad Imlivi mushmit), the planet of Nibiru, Mars in particular 
is meant. 

Besides these indirect evidences for Ninib = north point ^ already 
partly shown by us in A.T.A.O., Ist ed., H. Winckler has now added 
authentic first-hand documentary proof out of the First Tablet of 
the cuneiform work on evil spirits : CT., xvi., pl. iv., pp. 143 ff. 

To understand the text, one must bear in mind that the point of 
sight is in the east, according to Babylonian reckoning, and repre- 
senting the equinox, Marduk = sun and Nebo = moon. The passage 
runs : 

'• Shamash before nie, Sin behind me, 
Nergal to my right, 
Ninib to my left." 

In so far as the four planets represent the chief points of the 
siin^s orbit, each of theni bears also in a special sense tbe solar 
character : Marduk is spring or niorning sun ; Nebo, autumn or 
e\ening sun ; Ninib, niidday or sunimer .sun ; Nergal, night or 
\vinter sun. 

In the sanie way, on the principle that sun, nioon (and Venus) 
shüw the sanie corresponding phenoniena, the four planets also 
correspond to the moon's phases. 

V. Orientation of the Universe 

Froni the arrangenient of the " Corners of the World " 
different theories present themselves about the orientation of 
the World (Mohannnedan Kihla)r 

The theorv of Creation arising from the prinieval oeean 

1 Still considered uncertain by Zimmern, K.A.T., 3rd ed., 408 seq. The whole 
System, and the inferences it entails, Stands or falls according to the view taken 
of this question. 

- To be distinguished from the points of direction established by the gnomon, for 
e.xample on the compass surrounding the Cyl. of Sargon, 66 {mihrit viü share). 
Upon Kibla, see Winckler, F., iii. 296 ff., and compare alos p. 33. When the 
south is given as first direction (north second, east third, west fourth) in III. R. 
66, Rev. 27f ; II. R. 29, 1-4, it is not treating of the Kibla, but of the relation of 
the points of direction in regard to the wind points. 



ORIENTATION OF THE ÜNIVERSE 33 

agrees with the Kibla to the soutli.^ The correct astro- 
iiomical " orieiitatioir' is that which makes north the chief 
direction, the celestial north pole ; this may be either the north 
point of the universe, which belongs to Anu, or the north point 
of the zodiac, which, according to the above deductions, belongs 
to Ninib or Sin, the raoon ; therefore in the Babylonian mytho- 
logical System Sin = Ninib and = Anu. 

This is the true orientation, which the Babylonians used so 
long as moon-worship lasted, and which also corresponds to the 
fact that the river Euphrates flows froni north to south (hence, 
ahove = north, helozo = south). For this reason the temple 
belonging to the Tower of Nippur is on the north-east side ; 
heve the north corncr is the Kibla. This Kibla is found amongst 
the Sabaeans (Chwolsohn, ii. 5. 601), and in the direction for 
prayer of the Mandfeans they turn towards the north point of 
the heavens." 

There is possibly another orientation, which, however, seems 
secondary to the north Kibla ; namely, to the icest, the other night 
point. It corresponds with the division of the universo into two 
(sumnier and winter, day and night) — in it Nebo is equivalent to 
the moon, Marduk to the sun, — and may be founded upon the 
following simple astronomical Observation : when the spring sun 
rises at the equinoctial point (therefore 6 a.m.) the füll moon sets 
in Opposition in the west. Therefore here also the orientation 
is drawn from moon-worship. This orientation is shown by the 
year beginning in autumn (Tishri is called Beginning 2), and is 

^ See above, p. 6. 

^ Upon the north as chief direction, compare the designations above and belovv = 
north and south (or north and west, and south and east). Comp. , for example, Ä C, 
24, 30 f. ("I have rooted out the enemy e/is/t a.nd s/iap/is/i, above and below"). 
As Standard direction the north is called direction No. i, ishiaim, iltarm. The 
sacred character of fire may perhaps be explained by the fact that the importance 
of the north is rather cosmographical than astronomical (north, the region of 
fire, see p. 31). Thus in the Zoroastrian or ancient Persian religion, probably 
the reverence paid to fire originated in the worship of Zoroaster's native place. 
The Opposition here is the kingdom of water, so important to the Babylonians 
(Ahriman and his Dragons). 

^ A similar arrangement will be found in the age of Aries. It is piain that the 
year also began in autumn in the Mithraic calendar, since the sixteenth day (füll 
moon) and therefore the seventh month, which occupies the same position in the 
year as the sixteenth day does in the month, are both consecrated to Mithra. 
VOL. I, 3 



34 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

historically supported by the phenonienon that originally Nebo 
took the place of Marduk, and vice versa. 

Both theories agree with moon-worship. This changed when 
the age of Sin ^ (accovding to this theory = Nebo) came to an 
end, and the age of Marduk began, i.e. when the spring sun 
passed into the sign of Taurus out of the sign of Gemini, and 
when the city of Babylon (whose tutelary deity, Marduk, was 
symbolised as a bull) became, under the rulership of the 
Hammurabi dynasty, metropolis of the world. Then there 
arose a theory which fitted everything to Marduk, that is, to 
the east point. From that time the New Year was celebrated 
in spring."^ 

The alteration of the Kibla does not absolutely necessitate 
change of the north and soiith points. It depends upon the 
direction of the circuit. The yearly movement of the sun is 
towards the east ; the seon-movement of the precession of the 
equmoxes (see " Ages of the Universe/' p. 69) is towards the west. 

VI. SOLSTICE AND EüUINOX 

Sun and Moon 

It may be concluded from the foregoing deductions that there 
are two methods of calculation possible in the religious calendar 
System. 

One emphasises the solstices ; the other, which lays stress on 
the phenomena of nature, accentuates the central point of the 
arc from solstice to solstice — the equinoct'ml points. That both 
methods exist is shown by the Babylonian festivals. The New 
Year festival, which is spoken of in the Arsacid text quoted on 
p. 29, celebrates the equinoxes. The Tammuz festival, in the 
form of worship best known to us, celebrates the solstices (birth 

^ Details under the heading " Ages of the World," p. 69 SC(J. 

^ The autunin celebration of new year corresponds to the Sumerian orientation, 
which accounts for, e.£., the festival of Ningirsu in Giidea. When Babylon became 
metropolis, the Babylonian calendar prevailed, and the year began in spring. The 
preference for the north is Sumerian, in contrast to the Babylonian arrangement 
of the Cardinal points ; thus in the Jewish state calendar under Shesbazar, the year 
begins in autumn : see p. 46. A mosaic map of Jerusalem (of the si.xth Century 
A.D.), found in Medeba, shovvs that the main gate of the old city faced north, and 
the Street of columns ran north. The orientation of the map is to the east, with 
the sea at the bottom, 



SOLSTICE AND EQUINOX 



35 



und death of Tanimuz), or, accentuating the relations between 
sun and nioon. tlie wedding and death of Tammuz (see fig. 
14). It depends upon this, therefore, whether there is a 
diviyion Ol the circle into two or four. In division into two, 

(Fall ir:oon point) 

Solstice 

Minib-Nibiru 



Wedding point of "^V Tammuz-Moon 
Death point of \^Tammuz-Sun 
Solstice point of VegetationX (Midsummer night 



Autumn equmox 
Nebo 
(Hearse) 

Descent into the 
Under World 




Spring equinox 

Marduk 



The hero conquers 
the Dragon 



Tammuz-Sun from Virgo 



Nergal 
Winter Solstice 

(Dark moon^ 
Fig. 14. — Sun and mo':^n with Iheir mythological motifs. 

either Nergal or Ninib retires into the background (summer and 
winter, day and night; comp. Gen. viii. 22); then is 

Marduk : Day, summer. 

Nebo : Night, winter. 

When the moon has the Overworld and the sun the Underworld 
character,^ Marduk represents the latter and Nebo the former, 
as we find in the text quoted p. 32 ; or Marduk and Nebo retire, 
and then Ninib represents the moon and Nergal the sun.^ The 

- Comp. p. 30. In Deut, xxxiii. 13 the sun and the culmination of the moon (K'nJ 
Septuagint, crvyoSos) are mentioned as parallels to Heaven and Tehom ; see 
Winckler, K, iii. 306 Jtv/. 

'^ Then not east and west, bat north and south are named as e/is/i and shaplish, 
above and below. 



36 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 



complete circle can also be represented by 0)ie divinity. This 
is shown in the figure of Tammuz, so far as the myth represents 
the nioon. The waning nioon is Taninuiz sinking into the 
Underuorld ; the growing nioon is the triumphant resurrection 
of Tannnuz with the crescent sword after three days (!) of the 




11 I I II lillllN 

Fig. 15. — The course of the moon and its mythological motifs. 

N.B. On the large circles the dots show the parts lighted by the night sun, but 
invisible from the earth. 

* Death motif ; the corresponding sun motif is i/ic vciliii^. 

** The moon triunriphs with the sickle sword over the Powers of Darkness, or is represented as 
spring new moon (after three days dark moon) rescued by the sun, or bears the sun upon his 
Shoulders through the water region (Christopher). In the emphasis of moon motifs the figure 
bearing the bürden or beingborne represents the growing or waning moon. 

*** Meeting of the spring füll moon (after three days dark moon) with the rescue of Tammuz 
(sun after winter time), ceiebrated as New Year. 



SOLSTICE AND EQUINOX 



37 



dark moon time.^ Tammuz is then Nergal + Niiiib. Nergal 
and Ninib appear as twin.s ; ave also, therefore, according to 
V. R. 46. 4a, ö, associated M'ith the zodiacal sign Gemini. 

Emphasising the solar cycle, Tammuz is either = Marduk + 
Nebo (marking the equinoxes, as in the passage from Theocritus, 




Fig. i6. — -Tablet from Nippur (?) vvith figure of the heptagram. 
Comp. Hilprecht, E.xpJ. in Bibk Lands, p. 530. 



Moon 



iMercu 



Saturn 



Juptier 




jMercury 



Venus 



Moon 




Mavs Sun 

Fig. 17. — Heptagram. 



Venus 



Jupiter Sun 

Fig. 18. — Pentagram. 



quoted p. 29) or = Ninib + Nergal (marking the solstice, as 
in the astronomical cuneiform text quoted p. 30). A third 
point of view presents in Tammuz the relation of sun and 
moon. The one rescuing the other out of the Underworld, 
either the spring new moon rescues the sun (bears him on his 
Shoulders : St Christopher) at the equinoctial points, or the 

1 After the Hilal (Arabic, first day of new moon) the moon moves away from 
his twin brother for fourteen days, then " recognises " him, turns towards him, and 
wastes away tili his death fourteen days later. 



S8 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

spring dark moon, sinking into tlie Uiiderworlcl, is rescued by 
the spring sun. We have a classical witness to the lunar 
combat in the text reproduced in Chap. IL, p. 111. Elsewhere 
Ishtar appears as the partner of Tammuz. Ishtar rescues 
Tammuz out of the Underworld (journey to hell of Ishtar). 
Here the rescuing and the rescued equally can bear either solar 
or lunar character, and on the other band either can represent 
the masculine or feminine dement.^ 

Emphasising the solstices, the crisis is the meeting of the 
füll moon with the sun at the summer solstice (24th June : 
wedding of Tannnuz, at the same time the death point of 
Tannnuz).- Emphasising the cquinoxes, the crisis is the meeting 
of the spring new moon ^v•ith the spring sun at its victorious 
point. 

Another representation of the cycle of the universe places the 
seven planets as seven points within a circle in the form of a 
heptagram. We find the picture of this hejjtagram on an ancient 
Babylonian tablet (see fig. l6), and it is well known how great a 
i'ole it still played in medieval astrology. When the circle is divided 
into two parts the heptagram becomes a pentagram by the elimina- 
tion of two planets. Both the elimiuated planets weve then held 
as planets of misfortune. In the astrology known to us this is 
particularly the case with Nergal-Saturn and Ninib-Mars. The 
pentagram is the astrological magic charm. It is identical with 
the " Druid's-foot, " 3 pentalpha, the fairy-cross, and the Salus 
pythagoras, which were put on the threshold of medieval churches 
as protection against the entrance or exit of evil spirits (comp. 
Otte, Kirchliche Äjxhäohgic, 5th ed., i. 479). On an Etniscan 

^ Ishtar and Tammuz ; Isis and Osiris ; AUar and Shamash ; Baalat of Gebal 
and Adonis ; Nergal and Erishkigal ; Orpheus and Eurydice. We find the same 
myth in the Japanese Koyiki, the sacred book of the Shinto sect (see Chap. III., 
under "Japan " ), also among the South American races (see Ehrenreich, Die Ulythen 
der süd-a>nerikaiiischeii Urvölker, p. 37). Ehrenreich testifies that Peruvian myths 
current before the time of the Incas shovv an Asiatic character ; nevertheless he 
doubts their Asiatic origin, because he does not take into account the possibility 
of prehistoric transmission. 

- This is the meaning of the motif of ' ' looking back " (see p. 36), which is found 
throughout the whole world. Compare, for example, the South American myth of 
Yurakare (Ehrenreich, ioc. cif., p. 37), where the moon is hewn in pieces and 
grows again, follows the sun home, but disappears because she looks back in 
defiance of the command. 

^ Pentagram and " Druid's-foot " are exactly the .same. D'-itidc or Trude 
meant a vvitch in medieval German. See first part of Faust : Mephistopheles 
cannot pass the pentagram on Faust's doorstep. — Trans, note. 



THE CALENDAR 39 

mirror the pentagram is represented on a ball held by tlie Goddess 
of Fate, therefore certainly represents the cosmos (see Gerhard, 
Ges. Akad. AJ>haiidhingen, pictorial atlas, table iv. No. 6). 

The injths of the conßict icitli the Pcncer of Dnrkness 
(Dragon-combat) in the revokition of the clay,^ year, and 
universe year are based upon the teaching outhned here. In 
the combat either the nioon or sun, or both, are always in 
antagonisni,^ and the DeKverer is he who brings the time of new 
hght. In the Babylonian epoch this is Marduk (Merodach), but 
that this is artificial and secondary is evident. How can Jupiter 
be the Dehverev ? The fact is, Marduk-Jupiter has taken the 
place of Nebo-Mercury (see p. 27). Mercury is the morning 
star ; his nanie signifies '' foreteller '" : here we see also the 
astral meaning of the word Nahi, " prophet " ; he is the fore- 
teller or bringer of the new epoch.^ A curious part is played 
in the combat by the third of the three great stars, Ishtar 
(Venus). During the combat " Ishtar strives to become Queen 
of Heaven''(see p. 112; comp. 119).^ She is counted as bhe 
equal inner part of the great triad (with sun and moon), and 
therefore, when the culminating point is not possessed by either 
of the other two, she becomes the superior and obtains it— the 
point of the universe belonging to Anu.^ 

Vn. The Calendar 

Since the v/hole edifice of civilised life was represented as 
reflecting celestial phenomena, the calendar, which regulates 
the arrangements of life according to the revolution of the stars, 

1 "Wo bist du Sonne blieben? die Nacht hat dich vertrieben, die Nacht des 
Tages Feind" (Hymn No. 438 in the German Evangelical Hymn-Book, by Paul 
Gerhardt, 1606-76). 

'■^ Our calendar celebrates the 24th of June instead of the 2ist {e.g. in Leipzig), 
St John's Day, as the Festival of the Dead, and places the 24th of December 
(birthday of the Deliverer) instead of the 2ist ; this is probably because the three- 
day lunar reckoning is added to the half-year solar reckoning. 

3 See Winckler, F., 290 ; comp. 280, 299, 412. 

^ Ishtar as Virgo in the zodiac and Ishtar as the planet Venus are identical in 
the cosmic myth ; see A.B.A., 2nd ed., iii. 56. 

5 Compare the motifs in the Book of Esther. Mordecai (Marduk) and 
Haman are enemies ; Esther (Ishtar) ascends the throne (comp. Winckler^^, 
iii I ff ). For details upon the Triad, see pp. 86 ff. In the poetic language of the 
Old Testament (the fight between Yahveh and the dragon) we may recognise the 
battle according to both lunar and solar motifs. 



40 ANCIENT-E ASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 



^Tv'**?^,, 



is the most important political act, a matter of legislation ; ^ 
and every possible e^'ent could be based lipon solar and lunar 

calculations. For the fundamental law 
of Oriental chronology is : the small 
and the large cycle correspond to each 
other, each forming a universe : day — 
month — year ; lustrum — cycle — aeon, 
etc. 

In the cycle of the year Observation 
of the equinoctial points was in the 
historic age of Babylonia (spring sun 
in Taurus) of special importance ; as 
they are noted, for example, in the 
astronomical texts III. R. 51. In these 
the Observation of the heavens empha- 
sised the heliacal rising of the star 
Aldebaran,- whose rising coincides with 
the setting of Antares in Scorpio. 
That gives almost exactly half the sun's 
orbit, and divides the whole of the 
moon stations, which otherwise lie at 
Fig. 19.— Ancient-Babylonian various distances from each other, into 

calendar nail. Original in ^^^^^ halxes. Counting twenty-eight 
author s possession. _ _ ■^ .' o 

moon stations, this gives therefore four- 

teen Overworld and fom'teen Underworld.-^ In the division into 

^ In Memphis the young hing vowed in the temple, on his accession, to change 
neither the order of the festivals nor the calendar. He then carried the yoke of 
Apis for a certain distance, to indicate his desire to be " defender of the faith." 
{'AvaK\7]TT]pia, see Pauly-Wissowa, s.v.). It is noteworthy, further, what import- 
ance calendar reform has in the foundation of the supremacy of Mohammed 
(Winckler, Ex orioite lux, i. i, 7 : "The oldest traditions of Islam also refer to 
the regulation of the year "). The legendary history of Rome records the calendar 
legislation of Numa Pompilius. The dictaior clavis figaidi catisa is the ancient 
Roman calendar-maker. Clay cones in the shape of nails have come down to us 
from the earliest age of Babylonia ; these cones vvere thrust into the inner walls 
of their temples to mark divisions of time (see fig. 19). In China the calendar- 
makers are called the "College or Board of Celestial Affairs"; comp. Ideler, 
Chronologie der Chinesen, 1839. 

" The largest star of the Hyades (see p. 25). 

^ Note that amongst the Chinese, Hindus, and Arabs the Pleiades form the 
first Station of the moon and Scorpio the fourteenth. Comp. Foachan, Astral- 
mythen, 430, and von Bunsen's work, Die Plcjadeii u. der Tierkreis, based on 




THE CALENDAR 41 

four (corresponding to the quadruple division of space, the 
four " Corners '' of the universe) the solstices are added to the 
equinoctial points, which correspond to Regukis in Leo in the 
Taurus calendar.^ This quadruple division corresponds to the 
division of the year into four seasons. 

The passage of the nioon twelve times through the lunar 
" houses,"" compared with the sun's revolution through the 
houses of the zodiac, gives scctions of tinie of 12 x 30 days, 
roughly speaking, and accordiug to that a legal year of 3()0 
days. This legal year is attested in Babylonia, amongst others, 
by IL R. 52. 3, Rev. 38, where the year is rcckoned as 
12 nionths and vi. shushslm (1 shushshn = 60) = 360 days. 
This legal year is only conceivable as a conscious deviation froni 
the true lunisolar year amounting to 365^ days, and even as a 
deviation in the sense of the mathematical system which divides 
the solar course into 360 degrees and in subdivisions of 
30 degrees (12 signs of the zodiac) and 10 degrees (36 decani)." 
The round year requires intercalation. On Egyptian ground 
the intercalation of five days is attested in the Pyramid texts 
of Pepi IL'^ Up to the present we have direct evidence only 
of the Luisysteniatically inserted intercalary months in Babylonia. 

The Assyrian names of the months are in the order of the 
age of Aiies,"^ therefore of the late Assyrian period : — 

Haliburton's investigations on the Pleiades and the works of Dupuis. Von 
Bunsen must, of course, be used with care. This explains the fourteen pieces in 
the '' mntilation " motif in the myth of Osiris and Typhon. In the first bock 
of the Shu-King likevvise the four Determinists are named (in respect to the 
time of the mythical Emperor Jao, in the third millennium), and the commentators 
upon the Han dynasty (third Century B.C.) say that the spring point lies in IMao 
(r/ in the Pleiades of our star chart, therefore in Taurus !) in the moon Station of 
the same name. The same star is called Krittikä in Brahman astronomy, and is 
there also the first moon Station in the spring point. Comp. p. 12, and the 
works there quoted. 

1 See Gen. xlix. 10, Regulus, the royal star, attested in Babylonia as such 
under the name Sharru, lies between the feet of the Lion. The north point, or 
dominant point in the cycle of twelve, belongs to Judah, the Lion. The zodiacal 
motifs in the blessing of Jacob agree therefore with the age of Taurus. 

- For further detail, see A.B.A., 2nd ed., pp. 58 ff. 

3 <' When the gods were born on the five additional days" ; the further inter- 
calation of the quarter-day was postponed into the Sothis cycle. 

■* IV. R. 33. The Assyrian order uses Veadar as intercalary month (dedicated 
to Assur, " the father of the mighty gods "). For the list of gods in the context, 



42 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

Nisan : Anu and Bei. 

Airu (Ijjar) ; Ea, Loixl of Mankind. 

Sivan : Sin-moon, First-born of Bei. 

Tammuz : Ninib, the Warrior, exchangeable with the 

sun (see Tishr'i). 
Ab: Nebo-Mercury. 

Elul : Ishtar- Venus. 

Tishri : Shaniash, the "Hero," exchangeable with Ninib- 

Mars (see Tammuz). 
Marheshvan : Marduk- Jupiter deputy (Abkallu) of the gods. 
Kislev : Nergal-Saturn, the Great "Warrior (J). 

Tehet : Papsukal, Messenger of Anu and Ishtar. 

Shehat : Rannnan, the " Gugal " of heaven and earth. 

Ada?- : the great " Seven ''-divinity, 

Winckler, in the essay, " Hiunnel, Kalender, Mythus,'' F., ii. 
p. 354, which is a complete Interpretation of the foundations of 
the Ancient-Oriental System, has shown that the list clearly 
indicates an earlier method of reckoning, with six (double) 
months, which are divided between Sin, Shaniash (Twins, 
divided in the Assyrian calendar between the third and fourth 
months), and the five planets, thus agreeing with the planet 
list, III. R. 57. 65. 

Whilst in the reckoning of twelve months each one corre- 
sponds to a sign of the zodiac, the zodiacal signs correspond 
to the double months in the following way : — ^ 

Gemini ] c- r i qi, \i [January : Janus with the 

• bm I and Shaniash I ■- -^ 

Twnis J double face ; see p. 72] 

^^"f^' |shamash( = Nergal) [February : Nergal asthe 
Crab j Bringer of Fever, /f&7-i5]" 

Leo : Ninib-Mars [March-Mars] 
(Virgin) 



comp. Winckler, F., ii. 367 se//. ; Hommel, Aufsätze und Ahhaiidluiigcn, 447 ff. 
For the corresponding months among the Jevvs and Phcenicians, see Neh. i. i. 

' See Winckler, loc. cit., and Geschichte Israels, ii. 283. 

- Dedicated to the god of the Underworld among the Etruscans (Schobat), see 
Movers in Chwolsohn, Ssadier, ii. 782 ; it is the defectivc month (motif of Ihe 
Rape of the Maiden and Childlessness), see tdid., 607, 782. 



THE CALENDAR 4(5 

^ ., ' - Nebo-Mercury [ April- Herme:?li 

Scorpio : Marduk- Jupiter [J^^ay - Jupiter as optimns 

via.vimus] 
Virgo : Islitar- Venus [June-Juno]. 

The brackets show tlie '• Babylonian origin " of the Roman 
double months (comp. p. 7:5 and Movers in Chwolsohn, Ssahier, 
ii. 782). 

The number six i.s arrived at by eliniinating one of the 
Planets of Misfortune (Nergal = Sun, er later, following the 
la\v of rotation, Ninib), as the pentagram is obtained by the 
eliniination of both (see p. 37). The füll number of seven 
appears in the calculation of the week, the relation of which to 
the planets, as alreadv remarked, \ve hold to be pi'imeval." 
Fiually, that complete months, which represent day>< of the yeai\ 
are dedicated to astral gods, is shown by the ancient Persian 
calendar.^ In the Christian era the calendar saints have 
replaced astral gods ; but the astral references are still 
traceable at niany points.' 

The Order of our planet-named Aveekdays (see Winckler, F., iii. 
192) is obtained from the heptagram (see p. 37), if the points are 

■^ See Winckler, /'. , ii. 360. Tlie fact that the fourth instead of the sixth 
month belongs to Libra (Nebo-Mercury), the sign of the autumn equinox, clearly 
proves the backward movement of the equinox through two ages (the list dates 
from the age of Gemini, not Aries) ; compi. p. 73. 

^ The Jewish writers of the Kabbala, who got their wisdom from Babylonian 
sources. set an archangel over each of the seven planets, who governs the world 
on specific days of the week : Raphael, the sun ; Gabriel, the moon ; Chamael, 
i\Iars ; Michael, Mercury ; Zadkiel, Jupiter ; Annael, Venus ; Sabathiel or Kephziel, 
Saturn (see Kohut, Angelologie im Talmud). According to Clemens Alex- 
andrinus, Stromata 6, the seven spirits before the throne of God (Rev. i. 4) 
correspond to this view, and must be regarded as the planets [seeB.JV. T., 24 seq.). 
The Nabatsean book of El Maqrisi (Chwolsohn, ii. 611) proves the connection 
between days of the week and planets among the Sabseans. 

^ One month (double month?) belongs to each of the six Amshaspands, also one 
day apiece in the divisions of the months reckoned by fourteen days plus sixteen, 
Ormuzd makes a seventh : the ist, 8th, I5th, and 23rd are sacred to him. 
Plutarch says that the six (each of whom, moreover, is accompanied by the triad, 
sun, moon, and Tishtrya- Sirius), are increased to thirty liy the addition of twenty- 
four spirits. 

* For example. St John's day (" He must increase but I must decrease") falls 
on the Summer solstice ; St Thomas's day (for Thomas, " the twin," see B.N.T., 
92) on the winter solstice, 2ist December. 



44 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

designated in the foUowing order : ^ Moon, Mercury;, Venus, sun, 
Mars^ Jupiter, Saturn^ and then connected across each two points, 
beginning with the sun (see fig. 20).2 

There is no specific " Hebrew " calendar. \Ve oan only speak of 
one which the Israehtes adopted, that is, took into practical use,^ 
out of the many existing calendars ; we therefore call this calendar 
'• Hebrew " as we might call the calendar of Julian " Russian." 

(Monday; 
Moon 3 

Saturn l /"^ \ ^^ '^^'''^"'y 5 
(Satuiday) /\\/ \^.-^\ (Wcdnesday, A/ercredt) 




Jupiter 6 \^ / "-yA y Venus 7 

{Thursds.y, /einü') \ // \\ / (^"day, Vendredt) 

Mars 4 Sun 2 

(Tuesday, Mardz) (Sunday) 

Fig. 2o. 

From the material up to the present tinie availabie, the continu- 
ous week of seven days seems to be an Israelite peculiarity. In the 

1 The moon, as nearest the earth ; then Mercury and Venus, as satellites of the 
sun, both being morning and evening stars ; then the sun ; then JMars, Jupiter, 
Saturn (the sequence is arranged according to the length of time required by their 
orbit round the ecliptic, see p. 20). This is the usual Babylonian order, arranging 
the planets according to their apparent distance from the earth (see II. R. 48. 48 
seq. a, b ; III. R. 57. 65 seg. a), except that the moon and sun come first. 

- Moreover, not only the days but the houis are linked in mystic relation with 
the planets, as we may see from horoscopes cast according to the hour of birth. 
(Books for ascertaining the horoscope, calculated up to date, are still sold at 
German fairs, and " superstitious " farmers use them for deciding at what age 
young stock should be slaughtered.) For example, if the first hour of the first 
weekday belongs to Saturn (and the first hour is most important in astrology), 
the second to Jupiter, the third to Mars, the fourth to the sun, the fifth to Venus, 
the sixth to Mercury, the seventh to the moon, and so on through the twenty- 
four, then the first hour of the second day belongs to the sun, the first hour of the 
third day to the moon, the first of the fourth day to Mars, the first of the fifth to 
Mercury, the first of the sixth to Jupiter, the first of the seventh to Venus ; and 
according to the planet governing the first hour, the day was called Saturnsday 
(Saturday), Sunday, Moonday, Tuesday {Mardi), Wednesday (yl/c;rr^^i'/), Thurs- 
day, {Jencii, Jovis dies), Friday ( Veiidredi, Veneris dies). 

"' The festivals were derived from the calendar, which depends on the move- 
ments of the planets, not the calendar from the festivals. See Winckler {K^-itische 
Schriften, iv. 62 seq.) in siipport of this view and in Opposition to the theories of 
Wellhausen and his followers, who consider the festivals to have been primitive 
cekbrations of harvest-time by an agricultural people devoid of calendar science. 
The foUowing explanations differ from Schiaparelli's views in his Astronomie im 
Alten Testament, Giessen, Ricker, 1904. 



THE CALENDAR 45 

sphere of Aiicient-Oriental civilisation outside the Israelite dominion 
there is only a continuous week of üve days attested (Jiamushtu, by 
the sniall Caj)ividocian tablet pubiished by Golenischeff, written in 
Babylonian cuneiform letters). These weeks of seven davs seem 
to be very slightly connected with the lunar course. 

Fui-ther, they cannot have reference to the moon, because 
28 is in no case a limar number. (27 days, 7 hours, 4-3 minutes is 
the duration of the sidereal revolution; 29 days^ 12 hours, 44 
minutes of the synodic revolution: the equalisation would be 28j^.) 
The seven-day week represents simply a number, and there is no 
era of Ancient-Oriental civilisation in which it is conceivable that 
it -vvould not have been connected with the seven planets. 

In regard to calculation of the year, it is certain that the Israelites 
kne.iv the equalised solar and lunar year, for the number of years 
of the iife of Enoch {SQb) is undoubtedly solar reckoning (see 
Chap. " Ancestors "). Had they at any given time reckoned officially 
by the solar year it Avould have become a matter of legislation, 
but it can only be shown by certain historical events. 

Solomon's decision, 1 Kings iv. 7, that every month in the year 
n:^n t^'"^^ one of the twelve districts should pay tribute, points to 
12 X 30 days, so does the reckoning of the chronicler of the Deluge 
story : from 17th of the second month tili I7th of the seventh month 
= 150 daj^s (a half year, corresponding to the universe half year of 
the Water Region). Does that agree with solar or with lunar 
reckoning ? Possibly with both. For also in lunar reckoning 
it practically works out at 30 days (alternately 29 and 30 days from 
new moon to new moon). The names Yerah for month and rosh 
hodes (beginning of the renewal) for the beginning of the periods 
of time prove that they started with the moon's course (Yareah). 
Later m'' (m'' 0*0" = DVD'' CiHn) indicates usually SO days (comp. 
Numb. XX. 29, Deut, xxxiv. 8, the times of mourning for Aaron 
and Moses). 

That they began with the festival of the neu' moon is not 
proved by passages like Am. viii. 5 ; 2 Kings iv. 23 : ^ they may 
refer to the distinguishing of the first day of the thirty-dav 
periods. With the neighbouring Phoenicians there is certainly a 
witness to the new moon festival in the inscription of Narnaka, 
where two times for sacrifice in the month are appointed, at 
new moon and at the füll moon.^ The dating by new moon 

^ It is doubtful wliether i Sam. xx. 5, iS, 24, 27, argues a calculaiion of the 
date of the new moon. 

'^ Text in Landau's Beiträge, ii. pp. 46 seq. It is certain that the Israelites^ like 
all the peoples of the near East, based their calculations of time on the moon 
(Ps. civ. 19; Cant. xliii. 6-8). In Midrash Genesis rabba c. 6 (comp. Pesikta, 
4i(^), we are told : " Rabbi Jochanan says : The moon was created solely for the 
calculation of times andseasons" (not to give light like the sun). Among the 
orthodox Jews, mothers still teach their sons tc take off their caps to the new 
moon. 



46 ANCIENT-E ASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

and füll moon on the journey to Sinai corresponds veiy well with 
old methods. 

When did tlie Israelite year begin ? In 1 Kings xx. 22 and 26 
the time when tlie King of Damasciis customai-ily began his cam- 
paigns is named as the new year. The same holds good of David's 
warlike expeditions (2 Sam. xi. 1). Here, therefore^ the beginning 
of the year is in spring. VVould this be only a borrowed version 
of the story, and not mueh more likely an agreement with a current 
calendar? Jer. xxxvi. 22, where the King sits by the warming fire 
in the winter month^ is evidence to which no objections can be 
raised. We are inclined also to think that Exod. xii. 2 (Nisan 
as the first month) agrees with old methods = the Babylonian 
calendar (age of Tauriis)^ perhaps in definite Opposition to the 
current Egyptian calendar. 

When the Jews had their own government after the Exile, they 
fixed (ander Sheshbazzar) in their own calendar legislation autumn 
(Tishri, that is, beginning) as the beginning of the year, in Opposi- 
tion to Babylon (but still preserving the old Enphratesian reckoning 
in the nanie Tishri). ^ But in practice the festival of the autmnn 
harvest was looked upon as the end of the year even before the 
Exile. The Jews have still two beginnings of the year, one in 
spring and one in autumn. Exod. xxiii. l6, in connection with 
Exod. xii. 2, may be in keeping with original methods, but it 
hardly answers to an ofRcial calendar regulation. If one regards 
it so, it would have to be taken as evidence of an eai'lier attempt 
of the Jews to form an independent political state in Opposition 
to Babylon, and it would therefore show a rctwgression in the 
growth of Jewish nationality. 

If the creation of the world is held to be in the spring, this proves nothing in 
regard to the calendar, but it is evidence of a dependence upon the Babylonian 
teaching.. 

That the comjjlete year was in every age founded upon the 
equalisation of solar and lunar cycle goes without saying, otherwise 
the appointed astronomical festivals could not be at tlie same time 
the harvest festivals. The vintage and the corn festival could not 
then be celebrated in the proper months, for in the true lunar 
year they would move backwards through the months. 

Upon the Sabbaih comp. Chap. IV. (pp. 174 ff. ; on the Israelite's day and hour 
comp. p. 67). The agreement of the post-E.xile months with the Phcenician 
and Babylonian names is discussed in passage upon Neh. i. i. 



VIII. Rkvelation üf the Divine Wisdoji and Will 

The Aiicient-Oriental teaching was identical with religion. 
According to it all kuowledge was of divine origin, and was 

1 Comp, p. 33, n. 3. 



REVELATION OF DIVINE WISDOM AND WILL 47 

revealed to men by the gods, even purely intellectual knowledge 
as well as the arts, in particular the art of writing, and handi- 
crafts, and all .skilled work. Religion was a part of knowledge, 
and the fostering of knowledge was the duty of the priests, 
who established a doctrine according to which all earthly 
phenomena, the regulation of daily life, the whole civil and 
social Order as well as the destiny of each individual, was con- 
ceived as an emanation froni the power and the will of the 
Deity. The niyth is the niaterialisation and populär form of 
this teaching.^ It represents knowledge as a revelation Avritten 
down in a book or drawn on tables of fate by the divinity, and 
with theories of the cosniogony such as described above, and 
of the nature of the places of divine manifestation a twofold 
mythical representation is possible : divine wisdoni emerges 
from ocean,^ or the will of God is revealed by the course of 
the stars. The first theory corresponds to space, the other 
to time ; the niyths bear a corresponding cosmic or calendar 
character.'^ 

(«) Wisdom rlshig from the Waters ^ 

When Ea created the first man (Adapa, called Atrahäsis, 
" Earth Intelligence," and Zer Jmelfdi, ^^ ^eed of Mankind"), 
he gave him " divine power, a broad mind, to reveal the forma- 
tion of the land, and lent him wisdom." ^ A Babylonian text ^ 

1 Dramatisation in the festival plays was the other method of popularising the 
teaching (see upon this pp. 93 ff. ). 

■' Comp. Prov. viii. 24, 29, 30. 

'^ Fundamentally they are of course identical. Note that "figures" were 
taught to mankind by Oaniies-Ea. Mathematics is the foundation of astral 
theosophy (see p. 62 et seq.). 

•* Also attested in Chinese mythology. In the time of the mythical Emperor 
Fuk-Hi(beginningof third millennium B.C.) there arose from the waters of the river 
Meng-ho or Hoang-ho a monster with the body of a horse and the head of a 
dragon, and vipon his back he bore a tablet inscribed with written characters and 
tlie eight mystic diagrams, and by this means the art of writing became known. 
In India also we find the Oannes figure : warning of the Flood is given by a god 
in the form of a fish. 

5 This Adapa, as 'Cn^firsl man of the present aon, corresponds to Mummu, to 
the voT]rhs ic6(Xfj.os in the prchistoric iBon (see pp. 7 f.), and to the ' ' archintelligence " 
Atarljasis as first man of the seon which arose out of the chaos of the Delitge. 

•' IV. R. 48 ( = CT:, XV. 50) ; comp. V. R. 51. Tflb. Comp, article on Oannes in 
Roscher's Lexikon der Arythologie, iii. 590. 



48 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

speaks of the shipru book ! IDD of the god Ea, the observance 
of which was incumbent, above all, upon kiiigs. Ea is, accord- 
ing to II. R. 58, " God of Wisdom, the Potter, the Smith, the 
Singer, the KalCi-Priest, the Navigator, the Jeweller .... the 
Stonemason, the Metalworker." 

The tables of Oannes ^ are of most value in tbis connection. 
Note, for example, that after the close of the Epic of Creation 
the primeval wisdom belonging to Ea is transferred to Mardiik ; 
further, that the priestlv wisdom which, in the tradition of 
the heroes the gods give to Enmeduranki, originally belonged 
to Ea, and in the ritual tablets " the Secret of Ea/' also occasionally 
the "Word from out the VVaters," the dwelling-place of Ea, are 
important.'- 

Eusebius {Chro/i., i., ed. Schoene, p. 134) records in bis 
" Chaldean Archajology " : "A great crowd of people of different 
races who inhabited Chaldea came together in Babylon, bving 
lawlessly, like wild beasts. In the first year (after the Creation) 
there appeared from the ' Erythraean ' Sea, wbere it borders on 
Bahylonia, a being gifted with reason, whose name was Oannes ; 
he had the body of a fish, but under the fish-head was another, like 
that of a man ; also the feet of a man grew from beneath the tail, 
and he had a human voice. His pieture is still preserved. This 
being abode through the day with mankind, eating nothing, and 
communicated to them the knowledge of w^riting and of the 
Sciences (/xaör^/xarcüF [mathematön]) and of many arts, and taught 
them how cities should be inhabited and temples built, how laws 
should be made and the land cultivated, the sowing and reaping of 
fruits, and above all the amenities necessary to the comfort of 
daily life (rjixepojcn? [Hemerösis]). Since that thiie nothing lias been 
found to surpass this instruction. At sunset this being Oannes sank 
again into the sea and passed the nights in the water, for he was 
am])hibious. Later, more of these beings appeared [in the same 
way out of the sea, Syncellus adds in another account], of which an 
account is given in the histoiy of the kings. Oannes wrote a 
book (Xoyo? [Logos]) which he gave to man about the origin and 
growth of civilisation." 

Helladius (in Pliotius, see Migne, Patrologia grcvca, Bd. 103) 
recounts : " A man named 'Q,iß [öTsJ, who had the body of a fish, 
with the head and feet and arms of a man, rose out of the 
Erythrasan Sea and taught astronomy and learning." Hyginus 
{Fabuke, ed. Schmidt, Jena, 1872, fab. 274) says : " Euadnes, who 

' Discussed in connection with Ea in Roschcr's Lexikon der Mythologie, iii. 
(art. "Oannes"); by Zimmern, K.A.T., 3rd ed., p. 535 ; and lastly by Hrozny, 
M. l'.A.G., 1903, p. ()\et seq. 

- IV. R. 21, I A, 41a ; also K.A.T., 3rd ed., 62S, n. 2 (in IV. R. 23, No. I, 
with I, 6) and IV. R. 29, 40. 



REVELATION OF DIVINE WISDOM AND WILL 49 

rose out of the sea in Chaldea, taught mau astrologi/." (üpon Ea- 
Oannes see pp. 52, n. 1, lOi' ff., and fig. 32.) 

(b) The CeJestial Scriptures and the Tahles of Dest'iny 

In the present universe divine wisdom is, as it were, codified 
in the constellations. The stars are called in Babylonian shit'ir 
shame, shitirtu shame, " writing of the heavens." ^ The moving 
stars of the zodiac in their constellations are especially inter- 
preters of the divine will.- 

The Babylonian rehgion appears to us therefore to be essentially 
•An astral religion. The multiplication of the ideogram for "God" 
(*) gives that for "star," and the Symbols of the gods are the same 
as those of the constellations. The people prayed to the stars, 
their reason being that the one divine power manifested itself in 
the various stars. Local Avorship of an astral god took its rise from 
the places of worship being held to correspond to the cosmic places 
where the respective stars revealed the divine power^ and \ve may 
take it that each separate place of worship knew the whole teach- 
ing but emphasised one special part. The local deity was repre- 

1 The same presentment is fouiid in Job xxxviii. 33 : " Knowest thou the 
mishtar of heaven ? " ; and, following the principle that the earthly is the picture of 
the heavenly, the parallel passage says : " Or canst thou paint it upon the earth ? "' 
Celestial and terrestrial writing therefore correspond, and hieroglyph and aiphabet 
are obtained from the starry heavens (see Hommel, G.G.A., pp. 96 ff. ; and 
Winckler, i^., iii. 195 ff. ). The Koran, Sura 45. 1-4, attests the same fundamental 
law in Arabia : "The revelation of the Book is from God, for the faithful may 
read in the heavens and the earth, also in your own nature and in that of all 
animals. And in the alternations of day and night, and in the heaven-sent 
nourishment reawakening the earth to life, and also in the changes of the wind." 
Comp, with this Sura 16. 16 : "... . for they are accompanied by the stars '' 
(Winckler, M. V.A.G. 1901, 360). Upon the teaching of Zarathustra, see p. 161, 
n. 4. From the Jewish writings Moed Katon 28« may be quoted : "Long 
life, children, and nourishment do not depend upon nierit, but upon the stars." 

- The fixed stars and the constelIatio7is are the commentary on the myths 
corresponding to the planets in the zodiac, like a commentary written along the 
border. Castor and Pollux, as well as Spear and Bow stars (Great and Little 
Dog Star), correspond to Gemini (Spear, motif of the moon ; Bow, of the sun ; for 
example, in the manner of the stories of Saul and Jonathan, Cyrus and Cambyses, 
Ajax and Teucer) ; the rising and setting of Orion corresponds to the myth of 
Tammuz, and the Orion motifs correspond specially to the motifs of the myth of 
springtime ; the seven Pleiades rising with Taurus after forty days' disappearance 
illustrate the myth of vanquished winter in the solar reckoning, as the five Hyades 
do in lunar reckoning. These things can only be hinted at here. Ed. Stucken 
has emphasised the relation of the fixed star Heaven, but on the other band it is a 
fault in Stucken's work that the relation of the fixed stars is looked upon with a 
one-sided view, without reference to the planets. 

VOL. I. 4 



50 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

seiited in bis own district as simmius deiis, as representative of the 
complete diviiie j)ower revealed in the starry world.^ 

Documentary Evklcnce of the Docfrine of Revchttion 

1. The Omina,- in particular the astrological ^vol■k " When 
the God Bei," which dates back to the oldest time known to 
US of Babylonian historv deals with soothsaying by means of 
a sheep's liver. But this soothsaying bears a cosmic character. 
The liver represents the microcosmos. The Observation of the 
heavens is connected with the slaughter-house of sacrificial beasts 
in the form of divination by means of the liver. 

2. The annals of the most ancient of the north Babylonian 
kings known to us, Sargon and Naramsin, are communicated to 
US in the form of Omina from prophecies by liver. A celestial 
phenomenon accompanies every event, in accordance with which 
the action is carried out. 

3. The designation of the planets as " Transmitters of the 
Laws of Heaven and Earth," as " Interpreter '' and '' Counsellor " ; 
seepp. 10, 12, n. 2, 18,49. 

4. Berossus (Priest of Marduk about 275 b.c.), " who inter- 
preted Bei,'" says that everything that happens is ruled by the 
course of the stars (Seneca). 

5. The tupshhnäte, " Tables of Fate,"" •' which regulate the 
" Vaults (puluJihu) ^ of Heaven and Earth,'' and upon which 
the " Commandnients of the Gods " and " the Life of Man "" 

^ The ideogiam # (eight-rayed, wilh variant of sixteen rays), which desigiiates 
Anu as sununus deits, is perhaps a representalion of the celestial pole, which, as 
throne of the sitnumis detis enjoyed divine honours, and of the points of direction 
proceeding from him ; upon this conjecture, which originated with Oppert, and 
was accepted by Jensen and Zimmern, compare A.B.. 4., 2nd ed., p. 15. 

'- Text published by Craig, AslroIo^:;ical Texts, xiii. Upon these Omina see 
the important fundamcMital investigations by Jastrow, in Religion Babylonieiis iiitJ 
Assyriens. 

•^ To be read in the singular? By analogy with the Biblical tables of the law, 
one might be inclined to think o^iivo tables. But also seven tables are conceivable. 
The destinies of Jacob's family are written upon seven celestial tablets (Jubil. 
xxxii. 21 seq.). Compare the book with the seven seals, Rev. v. (see B.N. T., p. 17), 
and the seven tables in the Dionysiaca of Nonnus, each one of which bore the name 
of one of the seven planets. 

■* I. R. 51, No. I, 24^, and V. R. 66, 14 et seq. b (Antiochus Soter). Jensen, 
KosDi., 162 (but comp. 505 '^^ ■f'-Y-)' "circle""; Zimmern " boundary circle" — ? 
The word in Arabic is the astronomical term for "globe." 



REVELATION OF DIVINE WISDOM AND WILL 51 

are written. Nebo carries them, "the Scribe of the Universe." 
Also Be], '^ the Father of the Gods," as Lord of the Zodiac. In 
the myths of the combat with the dragon and of the renewal 
of the Avorld they are hung round the neck of the conqueror 
and demiurgos as reward. In the epic of the combat of 
Marduk they were in the possession of Kingu, partner of 
Tiamat after the chaining of Mummu. Tiamat dehvers them 
to him (Mardak) with the ^vords: "Thy commands shall not 
be changed, the words of thy month shall be established." 
Possession of the tablets carries with it the right to rule over 
destinies {sJfhnata shämu). The Tablets of Fate are a concrete 
representation of the idea of revelation, proceeding from out 
the primeval \\aters, the seat of wisdom, or from the celestial 
World. The tablets are the divisions of the world, the stars 
and constellations form the writing ; their relation in religious 
history to the Urim and Thummim is discussed in an article on 
LTrim and Thummim in the Anniversary Volmne by Hilprecht. 

6. The legends of Enmedurankii seventh mythical king, 
to wliom, as in the case of other mythical kings of the heroie 
age, is attributed the same inspired knowledge which origin- 
ally belonged only to the gods.- " Into the hand of Enmeduranki, 
King of Sippar, beloved of Ann, Bei and Ea, Shamash and 
Adad have given the Secret of Ann, Bei and Ea, the Tablets of the 
Gods, the takaltu (•' written table'.?) of the Secret of Heaven 
[and Earth], the Cedar Staff, beloved of the High Gods. He 
himself, however, when he had rec[eived {}) this, taught {}) it to 
his] son." The correctness of the restoration is proved by the 
close of the Creation epic : " The fifty names (of honour) (of 
Marduk who has received the Tables of Destiny) shall be pre- 
served, and the " first " shall teach them, the wise and the learned 
shall ponder them together, the fiither shall teach them to his son, 
and instnict the herdsman and the guardian." 

7. Berossns, who knows of a multiple revelation of the Divine 

' Text and translation in H. Zimmern's Beiträge zur Kenntnis der babyl. 
Religion, pp. ii6 ff. Comp, li'.A. T., yd ed., 537 f. 

^ The same fundamental idea occurs in the Avesta. According to Vendidäd 
vi. Yima was appointed to guard divine truth upon earth. The true teaching 
was then commimicated to Zoroaster (note that in the Avesta Yima is also King 
of the Dead, like Nebo, Hermes, etc. ; see following note). The religion of 
Zoroaster developed out of star-worship (Magi !), as the first hymn in the sacrificial 
book Yasna betrays : "I sacrifice to the stars, to the star of the Holy Spirit, to 
Tishtrya (Sirius), to the moon who possesses the seed of the bull, to the gleaming 
sun with hurrying horses, to the eyes of Ormuzd," etc. 



52 ANCIENT-E ASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

Wisdom in difFerent ages of the universe, relates in his Babylonian 
history of the Deluge that Kronos commanded Xisuthros to 
inscribe everything, the beginning, middle, and end^ in written 
signs and to deposi^t it in Sippar. (The Babylonian priest Berossus 
could onlv mean cuneitbrni tables, perhaps the book of the legends 
of Oannes is meant.) After the DeInge his children and relations 
went to Babylon, took the writings from Sippar, and, following 
the command of Xisuthros, taught them to all mankind. 

It can scarcely seem donbtful that the tradition inoludes the 
tables of both the mythical kings, Xisuthros and Enmeduranki, in 
these archives.^ 

8. Indirectly we may adduce the tables upon which the laws 
regarding sacrifice, prayer, and friendship are written, the " Table 
of Good Works" in which, according to IV. R.^ 11, there are 
eighteen entries made ; the "Table of Sins," which, represented 
by the ritual tables, are broken and thrown into the water ; see 
B.N.T., chap. V., Book of Life. 

All these tablets and books, the idea of which. we nieet with 
again in the Sibylline books, are the earthly analogies to the 
astral Book of Fate. 

IX. The Earthly Image of thk Ckt.estial World 

Tlie Babylonian teaching is based, as may be seen from the 

fornier deductions, upon the idea of a pre-established harmony 

between a celest'ial and a terrestrkd image. In it the part 

always corresponds to the whole. In each phenomenon of the 

cosmos and of the cycle the whole is reflected. 

Naturally in practice it is things terrestrial which are imaged in 
the heavens, but in theory it is the other way : the type is in 
the heavens; comp. Isa. vii. 11 (Hennecke, Neut. Apokr., 298): 
" As it is above, so is it upon the Earth, for the image of all 
that is in the Firmament, is here, upon Earth." Therefore also the 
Babylonian records describe first the creation of the cosmic 
divinities and then those of the earth. The Chinese cosmogony 
has the same foundation. The earth is a counterpart of the 
heavens. l'his is particularly clearly shown in the science of 
geomancy, which was revived by the teaching of Shu-fu-tse 
(twelfth Century a.d.) and which is in use to the present day, the 

' Enmeduranki corresponds to Ea of the Underworld, that is, to Nebo, teacher 
of the divine will in the astral doctrine (in Egypt to Thaut, teacher, prophet, and 
sacred scribe, Interpreter of the gods, founder of the religion ; in Phoenicia, 
according to Sanchuniathon, to Thaut as Interpreter of the heavens; in Greece, to 
Hermes as discoverer of astronomy and of the art of writing, etc.). 

- K 3364= C. T., xiii. 29 seq. 



EARTHLY IMAGE OF THE CELESTIAL WORLD 53 

chief principle being : All that is lipon earth Iias its type in 
heaven.^ Comp. Orelli, Rcl. Gesch., 85. 

The Egyptian idea also apparently develops from the earth 
outwards and the celestial world is a niirror of Egypt ; but here 
also the theori] is the reverse. The contrast between the Piatonic 
and the Aristotelian views vests finally upon the same diff'erenee : 
nomina ante rem, ov nomina in re ? The Aristotelian view is the 
triier, the Piatonic the more idealistic. 

1. The Countries 

The terrestrial universe corresponds to the celestial universe 
in its entirety and in its parts. Thu.s one of the Omina texts 
says : 

The right side of the nioon is Akkad, 

The left side of the moon is Elam, 

The Upper part of the moon is Amurru, 

The under part of the moon is Subartu. 

Li the Adapa myth Ea gives to the first man "a broad 
rnind to imderstand the formation of the country,'" and in the 
Oannes legend Oannes teaches man how to survey the country 
and delivers to him a book upon statesmanship. 

Geography mirrors the celestial in Space, as the calendar does 
in tv?ie. Each country is a microcosmos. The changes of 
political (historical) geography alter nothing fundamentally, for 
the natural division abvays returns in the end. Occasionally 
also the theory carae to the aid of politics, and after conquest of 
a land proved a divinely ordained union by the help of the 
celestial image.- 

When the Bible represents the country belonging to Israel and 
Judah ("from Nahal Misraim even to the Pass of Hamath") as 
ike Provnsed Land, it is only a religious adaptation of the Ancient- 
Oriental principle that every conquest, every political division of 
a country, and the foundation of every realm is divinely appointed, 
and happens according to principles prefigured in the celestial 

1 The principle begins to appear in the fouith Century B.C., when Indian 
influence made itself feit. In building a house it was most important that the 
green dragon and the white tiger (autumn and west point, spring and east point ; 
see de Groot, Kei. Syst, in China, 982 seq.) should be righlly placed and the five 
elements (p. iS, n. 2 ; and p. 64, n. 2) properly divided. 

- Winckler, K.A.T., yd ed., 158, 176 et secj. ; F., iii. 360 el seq. ; Geschichte 
Israels, ii. 2S9 seq. 



54 ANCIENT-E ASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

World. ^ The religious conviction is also founded here upou 
the unpvecedented experience : "who broiight us out of the 
land of Egypt" "into the land which He promised to ouv fathers." 
A religious personality like Arnos ean coneeive that in other cases 
of migration and conquests the same Divine hand is in Operation : 
"Art thou not unto nie as the Kushites ? " saith Jehovah ; "have 
I not led Israel out of Egypt, as the Philistines out of Kaphtor and 
the Syrians out of Kir ? " 

As Microcosmos every country has a inountain which 
is the throne of the Divinity and place of Paradise, a 
centre of gravity (navel), o^i^aAo?, Babylonian, viarkas shame 
u irtsHhn^ similar to the maternal link, binding together the 







-:>-'i^.<'' 



Fig. 21. — Templum (centre of gravity) from Ilios (shaped liver). 
Second or third Century B.C- 

terrestrial and the celestial universe,^ a sacred v'\\q\\ which 
corresponds to the celestial river (Milky Way ?) ,'' an entrance 

■' The Hebrevv designationsy«/;;/«, kedevi show traces of a cosmical division of 
the country, \s'ac, i.e. the left {Saiii^alis the territory of Zenjirli in 'Arak, there- 
fore the northern part of the western country of the Amurrü) ; south is right, north 
left, by the Babylonian Kibla. Names like Kiriath Arba, Kiriath Sepher, Beer- 
sheba, and Gilgal have cosmic meaning (see B.N.T., 631) ; and to understand the 
stories of the l'atriarchs (and the deeper meaning in localities given by the Yahvist 
and Elohist in North and South Canaan) the knowledge is of the utmost iniport- 
ance (see Winckler, F., iii. 264). 

^ Recognised by Jastrow as such. 

^ One of the mythical variants is the " Gordian knol." The cutting of tlie knot, 
which represents the cuhninating point, the " knotting together of the universe," 
signifies seizing the dominion (see p. 58, p. 378, n. 2). 

■^ Abana and Phar]iar in Damascus (2 Kings v. 12) ; Choaspes in Persia, " from 



EARTHLY IMAGE OF THE CELESTTAI. WORLD 55 

to the Uiiderworld, and so on. The Babylonians have a celestial 
Euphrates and Tigris (again compare Milky Way), a cosniic 
Babylon/ Eridu, and Nineveb. And this conception is common 
to the whole Eastern world. 

A surprising proof of the localisation of the parts of the universe 
in the disti-icts of the city of Sidon has lately been foiind in an 
inscription on a building of Bod-Astart, grandson of Eshmunazai'. 
The inscription differentiates Sidon of the Sea, Sidon of the Piain, 
and Underworld-Sidon. Clermont-Ganneau coiijectured the cosmic- 
mytliological sense of the names, though the Ancient-Oriental 
theory at the root of the idea was unknown to him. See Landau, 
M.r.A.G., 1904, 321. The rivers of Phoenicia have also mythologic- 
cosmic rneaning : see Winckler, F., iii. 25 f. 

Li Lebanon two Springs of the Nahr-el-Kelb are named, one, 
Neba-^el-'Asal, Honcy-Spring, the other Neba-'el-Leben, Milk-Spring ; 
see Baedeker's Palestinc. 

The celestial System is also made the principle of the tribal 
divisions.- This explains the nuraber ]2 of the tribes, and 70 
(variants 72, 73) as complete number of states and nations.-^ 

It goes witbout saving tbat the idea of the parallel between 
the celestial image and the land rests on the assumption tbat 
the whole earth is a counterpart of the heavens. The practical 
form taken by this doctrine depends naturally upon the greater 
or less knowledge of the extent of the earth. Arabian geography 
divides the earth into seven climates, after the seven zones of 
the celestial " earth ■" ;'^ the division of the globe into twelve lopon' 
KXiiJLara {hörön Idhnata) is found in Greece as well as in Mexico 

which only kings drink " ; the Nile, Euphrates, Ganges, Achelous in Greece. 
For the throne of God (Sinai-Horeb, Betbel-Gilgal-Mizpah, Sion-Moriah, the ideal 
mountain, Isaiah ii., Micah iv.), comp. Chap. V., " Paradise," with Gen. xxviii., 
Ezek. V. 5, etc. 

1 The text treated by Hommel in G.G.G., 323 ff. Reisner, //;tw;/w, p. 142, 
describes the heavenly Babylon (H. Zimmern). 

" Compare "the people of Adad," "the people of Anion," in the lists from 
Taannek. 

■^ The design of twelve tribes is treated of later ; for the twelve Etrurian states, 
see Chap. III., under Etruscans ; Abulfaradsch, in his Bist. Dynast., loi, has 
twelve Arabian tribes. The Seleucian kingdom was divided into seventy-two 
parts. In the Middle Ages in Hungary there were nominally seventy-three states. 
The medieval Church had seventy European states, each one under its special 
patron saint ; comp. B.N. T., 93, and Winckler, Ex or. iux, ii. 2, 44. 

^ By this it is particularly clear that the celestial, not the earthly, is the original 
of the picture, for how could they arrive at seven zones of the earth ? 



56 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

and in Eastern Asia.^ Boll has found in the texts whicli lie treats 
of in his Sphcera a division of the globe into twelve zones (Dode- 
kaoros) which correspond to the twelve-year periods of the 
Eastern Asiatic zodiacal cycle, of which each one is nanied after 
a beast. The twelve parts of the Dodekaoro.s which correspond 
to the siffns of the zodiac are as follows : — - 



'ö^ 



Land. 


Dodekaoros. 


Persia 


Mouse 


Babylon 

Cappadocia 

Armenia 


Hound 

Serpent 

Beetle 


Asia 


Ass 


lonia 


Lion 


Libya 

Italy 

Crete 


Duck 

Bull 

Hawk 


Syria 

Egypt 

India 


Ape 
Ibis 
Crocodile 



Zodiac (celestial earth). 
(Aries) (ram). 
Taurus (bull). 
Gemini (twins). 
Cancer (crab). 
Leo (lion). 
Virgo (virgin). 

(Capricorn^ i.e. goat), libra(scales). 
Scorpio (scorpion). 
Sagittarius (archer). 
Capricornus (ibex goat). 
Aquarius (water-bearer). 
Pisces (fish). 

In Chinese mythical history also the earth appears as an Image 
of the cosmos. Yao (about 2350 b.c.) restored the land from the 
results of a flood like the Deluge^ "dug out the hüls, made the 
mountains disappear, and controlled the heavens," as the Shu-king 
says. The land was divided amongst his followers according to 
the four cardinal points, and according to the four mountains, and 
over each one was set a chief; twelve mandarins who ruled the 
people, six overseers, for agriculture, domestic life, handicrafts and 
food, and finally over music and education, for tbeir protection. 
Somewhat later the whole was divided into nine provinces, each 
one given to a regent, the central province, Ki, being ruled over by 
the Emperor himself. In the centre was the ])alace, surrounded 
by fields, then in a surrounding circle lay the fields of the people, 
in a second circle the meadows for pasturage, and in a third the 
woods and Inniting grounds. The provinces stretched out towards 
each other in the woods, and a bighway led from one chief city to the 
other. The Empei-or was chief-priest, he established the festivals, 
and he alone amongst the people sacrificed to Tien, the Lord of 
Heaven ; see Gorres, Mythengeschickte, p. 17. 

^ See Ideler, Zeit rechiiitiig der Chinesen, 1S39, 5 ff. 

'•^ Boll, Sphcera, 296, and also Winckler, O.L.Z., 1904, 96 ( = Krit. Sehr., iii. 96), 
with the explanation of Capricornus in Syria. The Zodiac and the Dodekaoros 
together are shown in the Egyptian Glubc (Kircher, CEdiptis ^-Egyptiaciis, ii. 2, 
20(3 seq.). In denoting the ecliptic, the figures of the animal cycle are used in 
Japan, even making the first animal correspond to Aries (see Stern, Gott. Gel. 
Am,., 1840, 2013 seq.). 



EARTHLY IMAGE OF THE CELESTIAL WORLD 57 

2. The Tcmple 

The rule of the gods upon earth corresponds to their rule in 
heaven. And as each divinitj has bis special sphere of action 
and place of manifestation in heaven {'" houses '' in heaven, see 
p. 29, temcns, t€/j.€po<;, tcmplnm), so he has also bis province 
upon earth. In this sense the deity is Lord of the Country 
(Canaanite, ha'al; Babylonian, helu), and for this reason the 
conqueror of a country would remove the statue of the god and 
put in its place a statue of the god of that part of the country 
in which he reigned, and when the deity had abandoned the 
country, the land became masterless.^ In the war against 
Judea the Ark of the Covenant represented the statue of the 
god in the mind of the King of Babylon. And the people 
held this sanie view when they said : " Jehovah seeth us not ; 
Jehovah hath forsaken the land." According to Ezekiel's 
Vision Jehovah dwelt in Babylon during the Exile ; the Merkaba 
(lion, bull, man, eagle), four supporters, form the chariot upon 
which he journeys thither ; in Ezek. ix. 3, x. 4, he visits bis 
throne in Jerusalem. 

The Avhole country is a counterpart of the celestial world, and 
the temple in particular represents it. As each celestial 
" house " is represented by an earthly place of worship, so the 
cosmos is portrayed in the temple towers (comp. p. 307), each 
story dedicated to one planet, and showing the correspondino- 
colour (see Chap. XII.). Gudea speaks of the temple of the seven 
tubqäti, the ascent of which symbolises the ascent to heaven 
and therefore is a work well pleasing to God : Ningirsu foretells 
a happy fate to whomsoever mounts to the summit.^ Ham- 
murabi says'^ he made the Ebarra temple, the Sun-temple of 
Sippar, very large, it was " like the heavenly dwelling-place " 
{shubat). 

The stories of the Temple correspond to the stages of the 
zodiac,'* the pillars of the Temple to the culminating points 

1 See Winckler in A'. A. T., yd. ed. , 15S, and for the followini,' Gesck. Isr., ii. 2 ; 
F., iii. 383. 

^ Cyl. G, col. i. 
^ Cod. iii. 29 f. 
■* Comp. p. 6 and ihe "celestial ladder " of Jacob's dieam. 



58 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

(east and west or north and south, according to the orientation). 
In individual cases the aSvrov represented again the throne of 
God, Steps led up to the statue of the Deity. 

But as the Temple is the reputed centre of a world, so everj 
district is a microcosmos in which the myths of the Creation, of 
the combat with and final victory over the powers of dark- 
ness, and all the other phenomena of the celestial world, are 
supposed to repeat themselves. It is for this reason we nieet 
with the myths in such thousandfold variations which, however, 
all refer back to the same fundamental Babylon ian ideas, as 
already said on p. 4. The mark of their common extraction 
lies in the ever-recurring motif (story, plot, nucleus) always 
derived from the same celestial, astral, mythological source. 

The Sanctuary (Adyton) represents the seat of the summus 
deus. Each temple represents the centre of gravity of the 
world, and each local deity is, in his district, the chief god. 
The Temple teaching points out that its own place of worship 
answers to a corresponding place in the cosmos. And since 
each divine manifestation is potentially in itself the complete 
Omnipotence, it is obvious that the blessings of the Divinity 
must be revealed in each respective place of worship through 
the person of the particular deity honoured there. 

The plan of the Temple is given from heaven. The Gudea 
architectural texts, for example, treat to a great extent of this 
divine definition — the individual parts of the Temple correspond 
to the celestial raodel. 

The same conception is shown in the LsraeUte Sanctmmj, only 
more spiritualised and corresponding to each stage in the develoj^- 
ment of the idea of Jehovah as " Lord of Lords, the God of Gods," 
or as the only God, who made heaven and earth : L In the 
'Olicl vw'cd, where Jehovah is throned upon the Cherubim, with 
the objects used in his worship wliich represent the astral world. 
2. In the Temple of Solomon. 3. In the visionary Temple of 
Ezekiel. These will be spoken of in detail in their respective 
places. 

3. The Throne 

To the oi-iental mind the king was representative of God 
upon earth, God incarnate. The king ascended the Kussü 
ilfit'i (" throne of the Deity "), the palace itself as heavenly throne 



EARTHLY IMAGE OF THE CELESTIAL WORLD 59 

("lofty gate'') enjoyed divine honour. To fear God and 
reverence the king was held to be the chief commandinent.^ 
The victories of the king appear as victories over the powers 
of darkness. The accessiou and the reicrn are in certain 
instances described as the dawn of the New Age, as the Golden 
Age. The ideas of the Khigdom of God and of the Empire of 
the World are Ancient-Oriental.^ In the Etana myth Ishtar 
and Bei searched throughout the earth for a king, and mean- 
while the insignia. sceptre, fillet, cap, and stafF lay ready in 
heaven before Anu, the siimmus dem. And a hymn to Marduk 
says : "He brings forth for the king sceptre, Hkurtu (?), 
weapons, and crown.'" 

Consequently the King- of Babylon represeiited Mardnk. In 
the Babylonian age the sun stood in Taurus, but the planet Jupiter 
is designated "Bull of the Sun/' and bis place in the heavens 
'•' Furrow of Heaven" (jndnn sha sliaiuc, see Hommel-, Auf. und 
Abk., 356), and a plough is the attvibute of Osivis. The king is 
therefore endowed with the niotits of the Marduk-bull, which 
brings the spring, the New Age. Nebuchadnezzar calls himself 
'•' husbandman (ikkant) of Babylon." Tlie Emperor of China draws 
a furrow every year with a yellow i)lough : this is now looked 
upon simply as a country festival custom, but the Ancient-Oriental 
teacbing shows the original meaning. Compare the plough motif 
at the beginning of a new epoch in the case of Saul, the Polisli 
Piastj the Czechish Primislaus. and the custom at the founding of 
a city of marking round the boundary with a plough ; see Winckler, 
Ex Oriente /«.r, ii. 2. 52. Comp. p. 74. 

In Babylon New Year was the festival of the inauguration 
of the king. He then " grasps the hands of Marduk," thereby 
taking over the government from hini. 'Yh.e jjüru cdt'rur (" I 
cast the lot '") of the Assja'ian kings has the sanie meaning ; 
on New Year's Day destiny is settled by the deity, and the 
king ac-ts as his representative. 

The king's court is counterpart of the celestial court, the 
throne representing the seat of the siimmus deus, led up to 

^ " Thou shalt fear God, thou shalt honour the King" {CT., xiii. 29 f.). 
Comp. I Pet. ii. 17 : " Fear God, honour the King." 

- The kings of South Babylonia use the divine determinative, as do Sargon I. 
and Naramsin. Hammurabi calls himself "divine king of the city." The 
Pharaohs lay claim to the same honour. The Emperor of China is " Son of 
Heaven' (ZV'«;//, "heaven"; Shang-iicn, "highest Lord of the uppermost heaven"). 



60 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

by steps.^ The highest offices (because the most ancient) are 
those of baker and cupbearer, and they also correspond to a 
divine function ; in Marduk's court there are the two offices, 
M'mä-fkid-beli, " What drinks my lord ? "" and Minä-ishti-heU., 
" What eats mylord?"; also in the Adapa myth the "divine 
baker '' - appears. The third dignity which is occasionally uiet 
with {e.g. amongst the Assyrians) is that of commander-in- 
chief of the arniy. 

In Rev. iv. 2 ff. we have a description of a nieetins;- of the 
celestial Senate; comp. Dan. vii. 9 et seq., Sind, see B.N.T., 14 ff. 
Neai- the divan the chief office-holders sit on the right and left ; 
the mother of the sons of Zebedee had this idea in her mind. 
Another ceremonial places the king's mother by his side ; see 
1 Kings ii. 19; Jer. xiii. 18; and comp. 1 Kings xv. 19, She then 
eorresponds to the Mother-goddess, Queen of Heaven, by the side 
of the summus dciis ; see pp. 39 f. and 111. 

The throne, led up to by steps, eorresponds to the throne 

of the Deity in the Adyton.^ 

X. Asnioi.OGY 

" Originally astrology was not a superstition, but the ex- 
pression, that is, the resalt of a religion, or conception of 
iniposing uniformity.''''^ It is founded upon a consistent appli- 
cation of the post hoc ergo propter hoc, and it can no longer 
be denied that this conception originated in Babylon. By an 
unquestioned tradition astrology is held to be " the wisdoni of 
the Chaldees," and long before the discovery of any records 
Dodwell recognised Babylonia as the source. Ideler, Histor. 
Untersuchungen, p. 1-17, considers Egypt the home. This is 
coinprehensible, as it was through Egypt that the wisdom of 
the ancient East passed to the West. India was considered 
(Bohlen) after the discovery of Indian records, and the old 
hypothesis of China as the source was reawakened by the 

' Hebr. niiftan ; see Zeph. i. 9. Comp. I Sam. v. i ff. 

^ vSee Gen. xli. 10. Comp. Zimmern, D.Z.Al.G., liii. 115 fC. 

^ Wunsche, " Salomos l'hron und Hippodrom," ^.i ö;-. lux, ii. 3, offers much 
valuable confirmatory material. 

'' Boll, Sphtcra, pp. 45 f., in relation to H. Winckler's explanation ofthe Ancient- 
Oriental conception of the universe. The texts in Thompson's Reports of the 
Magiciaus aiid Astrologers. Comp. Ungnad, " Die Deutung der Zukunft beiden 
Babyloniern und Assyriern,'' A.O., 3rd ed. ; A. Jeremias, A.B.A., 2nd ed. , pp. 26 ff. 



ASTROLOGY 61 

punitive expedition agaiiist that laiid. One by one the clues 
leading fioin farthest East through Persia to China and India 
have been followed, and in the same way the connection between 
the ancient Mexican calendar and Babylon will be niade clear. 
()n the Babylonian origin ofChine.se astronomy, see p. 12. 

Ph'ny, in his Hist. Nat., vü. 56, speaks of ancient Babylonian 
observations whicb were recorded on burnt bricks or tiles (" e diverso 
Epigenes apud Babylonios DCCXX annorum observationes sidenim 
coctilibus laterculis inscriptas docet "). Simpbcius says in his 
Cominentary to the works of Aristotle rle ccele (p. 123«), that Callis- 
thenes, who accompanied Alexander the Gveat to Asia, sent a 
number of astronomical observations from Babylon to his teacher 
Aristotle,, which Porphyrins assures us embraced a period of 1905 
years before Alexander. Diodoriis, ii. U5, speaks of the 478,000 
years of Babylonian observations, and Cicero, De dmnatione, i. 19 
(comp, also ii. 46), jeers at the pride of the Babylonians in botisting 
of 470,000 years' (" CCCCLXX milia annorum ") observations of the 
Stars. These enormous figures agree wlth the Statements of 
BerossLis about the primeval kings of the ages before the Flood. 
Thaies journeyed to the East in order to calculate the eclipses. 
Pythagoras was an Assyrian mercenary,who,according to Jamblichus, 
Vita Pyth., allowed himself to be persuaded by Thaies to go to 
^ßJV^ to receive instruction from the priests in Memphis and 
Thebes, and there learnt the Chaldean wisdom. Ptolemy, according 
to his " excerpts," got his facts from Hipparchus, but the source of 
Hipparchus's learning was Babylon. The Ptolemaic Canon, codified 
observations extending through hundreds of years, starts with the 
beginning of the age of Aries and the corresponding reforms of 
the Babylonian king Nabonassar. Syncellus, C/irofiogr., 207 (comp. 
p. 75), says : '•' Since Nabonassar the Chaldeans have noted the 
movements of the stars." 

Since the aim of the Ancient-Oriental "revealed"' teachino- 
was to prove all phenoniena of the world to be the outcome of 
the ruling power of divinity, so, naturally, the will and actions 
of the gods were read from the movements of the stars and 
constellations. The priests of a sanctuary observed the corre- 
sponding cosmic T6jui.evo?, temcnos (temple), and read the will 
of the gods and the course of fate from the niotion of the 
stars ; or he read the will of the gods from the sheep's liver, 
which in its lines and form reflected the universe. 

Ptolemy, in his work On the Inßuence and Charader of the 
Stars, iii. 3, teils us more of the secret : " What may be ünder- 
stood of the nature of things is to be learnt from study of 
the configuration of the related places." First one observes the 



62 ANCIENT-E ASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

place in the zodinc wliich is C07inected irith, or related to, the circuni- 
stance in question. Then one considers the stars which nde over 
or liave power in that ^^/rtt'c. Further, one notes the natura of 
those stars and their position in regard to the horizon and 
the zodiac, and finally one draws conclusions from their general 
position at morning and evening in regard to the sun and the 
horizon." In Diodorus, ii. 31 : '' At birth the planets are most 
influential for good or for evil. Froni their nature or appearance 
may be gathered Avhat the person must encounter. They (the 
Chaldeans) have foretold the fortunes of many kings, for instance, 
Alexander Avhen he conquered Darius, and Antigonus and Seleucus 
Nicator after him. And they seena always to have foretold 
correctly." The astronomer Julius Firmicus, who warned the sons 
of Constantine against heathenish errors, addressed prayers to the 
planets for the welfare of the emperor and his house, accoi-ding 
to his Astron., i. 4, 14-. In the Middle Ages emperors and popes 
consulted astrologers. Tycho Brahe, who in his Calendarunn naturale 
magicum scientifically defended astrology, lived at the court of 
Rudolph II. The philosopher Bacon calls astrology the most 
important science. Philip Melanchthon in 1 545 wrote a recom- 
mendatory preface to the horoscope drawn for the Emperor 
Maximilian by the astrologer Schoner. Kepler deprecates super- 
stitious misuse, bat remains firm in the theory of the unity of the 
stars with the earth and with the souls of men. At the present 
day astrologers are consulted about important events in Persia, 
Tuvkey, India, and in China. In the nineteenth Century the 
astronomer PfafF in Erlangen defended the connection of the stars 
" with the life of the earth and the actions and sufferings of the 
earthly creation/' and the philosopher and chemist Fechner of 
Leipzig taught the old conception in new form in his psycho- 
physics. The hour of birth of the Crown Prince of Italy was 
foretold lately by the position of the planets by the astrologer 
Papus for a Neapolitan newspaper. For astrology amongst the 
Jews, see ^.A^T., p. 50 ff. 

XL The Sacked Numbkrs 
Since the movements of the stars and constellations by which 
the will of the divinity is revealed and also the " correspondence " 
of the parts of the cosmos are expressed in numbers, it follows 
that there is a mathcvmt'ical foundation for the Ancient-Oriental 
rehgion and for mathematics a religious, that is, an astral 
foundation.^ In this lies the significance of tlie niystic numbers. 

' Therefore Oannes brings /.lad-fiuara to mankind, see p. 4S. This is the 
foundation of the teaching of Pythagoras. Fuither. upon tliis paragraph see now 
Hommel, in Oricntal Lit. Ztg., May 1907, Upon the Babylonian origin of the 
" Piatonic number" 5, see A.B.A., 2nd ed., pp. 73 ff. 



THE SACRED NUMBERS 63 

All numbers are sacred, and when here and there certain of 
them take precedence it niay be ascribed to the inHuence of 
sonie particular calendar system. 

The fundamental ciphers of the astral system are, as we have 
already seen, 5 and 7, the number of the Interpreters of the 
divine will, They give the root numbers of the duodecimal, 
that is, the sexagesimal system : 5 + 7 = 12; 5x12 = 60.^ 
Syncellus - says the Babylonians had a sossos of 60 years, a neros 
of 10 X 60 years, and a saros of 60 x 60 years. The cuneiform 
figures express with the same sign (a vertical wedge) 1 and 60 
and 3600 = 60 x 60. But the nature of the cuneiform numbers 
shows that the decimal system also was known in Babylon, ßoth 
Systems are of prehistoric origin. We gi\e in the following 
some specimens of the application of the numbers : — ^ 

0. The introduction of the cipher betokens a great intellec- 
tual achievement.^ We cannot teil whether it was already 
known to the Babylonians, There seem to be hints of it, e.g. 
in the writing of 600 (neros ?). 

2. Sun and moon, division of the year into two ; summer 
and winter, seedtime and harvest, frost and heat, day and night. 
Corresponding to this in the universe is the division into two 
as we find it in the oldest Attic poetry (Uranus and Gaia 
in ^'Eschylus, etc.). 

S. Triple division of the universe, corresponding to triple 
division of the zodiac and of the year. Three great stars as 
rulers of the zodiac, thence arising the two divine triads, Anu, 
Bei, Ea ; and Sin, Shamash, and Ishtar. To this may be added 
the triads of the divine emanations : '^ Apsü, Tiämat, Mummu ; 
Ea, Damkina, Marduk ; on the other band, Ea, father ; Marduk, 

^ The diviäion of the zodiac into twelve according to the solar orbit, that is, 
into twenty-four according to the lunar orbit (V. R. 46, very likely by the 
twenty-four days of the sidereal month in vvhich the moon is visible), cannot be 
held as the origin of the duodecimal system. See under " 12." 

" Chronogr., ed. Goar, p. 17. 

^ Comp. Windeier, " Himmels- und Weltenbild der Babylonier," A.O., iii. 2-3. 
1^07- draiving parallek from other thaii Babyloiüan aiid froin noii-Orieiüal people, 
compare tkefzuidattieutal reuiark, pp. 4 seq., 61. A preference for uneven numbers 
is universal : Niimero detts i»ipare gaiidet. 

•* See Gustav Oppert, Berl. GeseUsch. für Anthropologie, 1900, 122 seq. 

^ Coiiipare the triads of the Egyptian religion : Keb, Nut, Shu, fig. i ; 
Hathor with sun and moon. Ancient Iranian moon, sun, Tishtrya (Sirius). 



64 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 



son ; Nabu, teacher of the will. In nieasurenient of time the 
three seasons correspond to them, spring, summer, and winter 
(as in Homer), where probably six months are given to winter ; 
further, the division of the months into 3x9, that is, 3x10 
davs, and the night in 3 weeks. 

4. The quarterly phenomena of the solar orbit and the phases 
of the moon and Venus. Corresponding to them are the four 

planets (without Venus) as re- 
presentatives of the four ends 
of the earth : Jupiter. Mars, 
Mercury, Saturn.^ 

5. The enlargement to T for 
root number of the duodecimal 
cipher system (division into 12 
of the Orbits of sun and mocn) 
and also along with 12 the 
second root number of 60 which 
is indic-ated (in cuneiform with 
1) as a Unit, 5x12 = 60. It 
ai'ises in changing the hepta- 
gram into the pentagram, and 
two methods of calculation are 
possiljle. Either the two planets of misfortune are eHminated, 
when Saturn is replaced bv the sun and Mars by the moon, 
or the sun and moon are left out from the 7 ; see the drawings 
on p. 37. The 7 planet colours then correspondingly become 
5.- In the division of time 5 (liawnshtu) appears in the 5-day 

^ Compare the four span of horses in Zech. vi. i secj., which are sent out to 
the four quarters of heaven. Comp. M.V.A.G., 1901, 327, the four throne- 
bearers as representative of the four corners of the world in the jNIerkaba of Ezekiel, 
etc. Compare also the Coptic picture of the circle of the universe, fig. 22, and 
compare with this p. 24, n. 3 ; and p. 31, n. 2. 

2 Blue, Mercury ; black, Saturn ; yellow, Jupiter : white, Venus ; red, Mars ; 
see Hommel, ^?//i-. 11. AbhandL, 383 seq., and comp. B.N.T. with Rev. xxi. 
The five colours of the Chinese, which amongst the Manchus and Mongolians are 
doubied (like the corresponding five Clements of the Chinese, see p. 18, n. 2, 
comp. p. 53, n. I), forming the ten-day cycle, serve according to Vettius Valens in 
Salmasius, de aunis cliinactericis et de antiqtta asirologia, 164S, p. 260, "amongst 
the ancients to designate the five planets " ; see Stern, Gott. gel. Anz., 1840, 2031. 
For the planetary colours amongst the " Mandseans," see Chw'olsohn, ii. 401, 65S, 
839- 




Fig. 22. — Coptic representation of th 
circle of life, after Kircher. CEdipu 
.■Egyptiaciis, ii. 2, 193 ; iii. 154. 



THE SACRED NÜMBERS 65 

week, which, according to the witness of the so-called Cappa- 
docian cuneiforni tablet, was in use in Babylon simultaneously 
with the 7-day week {shcbüa)} Traces of such a 5-dav week 
are possibly to be found in the calendar V. R. 48, where on 
the 5th and 25th days intercourse with women is forbidden. 
Twelve 5-day weeks {lunimshat) give a double nionth of 60 
days; TO 5-day weeks give a lunar year of 350 (instead of 
354) days; 72 give a solar year of 360 (instead of 365^); 
73 give a solar year including the 5 (5|) equalising days 
(compare the 5 Gätä days along with the intercalary month 
every 120 years in the old Persian calendar, and the 5 " waste 
days'" in the Mexican calendar). This explains the significance 
of the 70 with variations 72 or 73 as the number of the com- 
plete cycle. As the 7-day weeks in the Apocalypse correspond 
to " weeks of years " of 7 and 70 years, so the 5-day week 
corresponds to the Instrnmr The sexagesimal System gives the 
period of 60 years =5x12 (having the same significance in 
the East as the " Century "" of the decimal systeni). But chiefly 
in myths and festival plays the 5 plays a great part as the 
number of the " superfluous " equalising days: festival of 
Epagomenae, feast of the Expulsion of Tyrants, etc. Comp, 
p. 93.3 

6. The number of the double months = 12 5-day weeks. 
These were still extant in the Roman calendar (established by 
Numa Pompilius, origiiiating in the East and introduced 
through the Etruscans), and in the " seasons '" of 2 months 
each of the pre-Islamite Arabs.'^ In this case the sun (that is 
to say, Saturn) disappears from the order of 7 planets. The 
colour lists II. R. 26, 48 note 6 colours ; to the 5 planet colours 
which we mentioned before, green, the colour belonging to the 
moon, is added.^ 

1 See Winckler, F., ii. 95 ff., 354 ff- 

- Dan. vii. 25, " after two times and a half" the end shall appear, i.e. in one 
and a half hainushtii — week of yeais ; see Winckler, K.A. T., 3rd ed., 335 ; Ex. 
or. lux, i. I, p. 18 ; and chiefly F., ii. 95 ff. 

2 Upon five and seven as lunar number and solar number, see Winckler, Baby- 
lonische Geistcrkiiltur, p. 74. 

* See Wellhausen, Skizzen, iii. loi. 

^ IT. R. 26, 48 counts six colours ; green as colour of the moon, see Stucken, 
M. r.A.G., 1902, 159 ff. 

VOL. 1. 5 



66 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

7. The nuniber of the planets, including the sun and moon. 
This has undoubtedly led to the introduction of a 7-day week.^ 
7 is the number of the sacrificers, of the deadly sins, of the 
vengeances, of the prayers.- In the greater cycle the " week " 
of 7, that is of 70, years corresponds to the 7-day week ; hence 
the meaning in the Apocalypse. The evil 7 is connected with 
the 7 planets (Nergal, Underworld) and with the 7 stars 
(Pleiades), the star of Nergal, representing the season of storra, 
the time of the equinoctial storms before the beginning of spring, 
in its 40 days' disappearance below the horizon ; see p. 68. 

9.'^ In the Babylonian East 9 might be looked for as a 
quartering of the orbit : 4x9 = 36 decani (see p. 12), 
4x90 = 360. The Egyptian doctrine of On-Heliopolis is 
dominated by 9, the greater and the lesser "Nine" gods. In 
the Mexican calendar 9 is the root number. Occasionally too 
9 is current as the third part of the sidereal lunar months : 
27-i-3 = 9. This idea is indicated by the nones in the Roman 
calendar, which is a fossilised remnant of a past system.* Possibly 
it exists also in the calendar laws of Numa. The 27 places for 
sacritice also point to the number of days of the sidereal months. 

10. See p. 63 for the decimal system. Tenths correspond to 
the 36 decani in the circle of 360. The division would give 
a week of 10 days. In later ages the twelve thousands became, 
perhaps through Eastern influence, changed into ten thousands, 
as with the Persians. 

^ Comp. p. 15, n. 3, pp. 43 ff. ; and in Gen. ü. 3. As is known, Dio Cassius 
refers the allotment of the days of the week to the planets back to the Egyptians. 
For Western Asia the coherence of the Nabatsean document Maqrisi bears witness ; 
see pp. 42 ff. For the seven-day week, compare also Kampf iiin Babel u. Bibel, 
4thed., pp. 33, 43 ff. 

^ Numb. xxiii. 29 : Balaam offers seven bullocks and seven rams upon seven 
altars. Another characteristic example is Josh. vi. ; on the seventh day Jericho 
falls, after seven priests have blown the trumpet seven days, on the seventh day 
seven times. 

^ W. H. Röscher in his "Die Sieben- u. Neunzahl im Kultus u. Mythus der 
Griechen," Aj^/. Sachs. Ges. der Wissenschaft. Phil.-hist., Kl. 24, No. i, offers rieh 
material in regard to seven and nine. The connection of the theory of numbers 
with the ancient East is here unfortunately ignored. 

* As also by the festival weeks of the iinndince remaining out of a vanished 
calendar, corresponding to the later epagomenen ; see Winckler, Ex Oriente lux, 

1. I, p.^2I. 



THE SACRED NUMBERS 67 

Jl. Marduk^s nnmber, whicli as star of the new geon builds 
the zodiac. 11 is the number of tlie zodiac because a picture 
of the sun is veiled in it ; comp. Jo.seph's cosmic dreani, Gen 
xxxvii. : sun, moon, and the 11 signs of the zodiac bow them- 
selves before him. 

12. The duodecimal sjstem does not arise from the zodiac 
(comp. pp. 10 fF.), but formerly the System of 12 was favoured by 
its means.i Since Jupiter takes 12 years to move round the 
zodiac, one looks for a Jupiter year ; but I think there has as yet 
no trace of it been found in Babylonian texts.'^ Another form 
of the 12-year cycle is found in the Eastern Asiatic zodiac; 
see p. 56. In Babylonia 12 corresponds to the division of the 
year by lunar months, as also to the calculation of theoretical 
months by the equalisation of the solar and lunar year. After 
12 revolutions the moon again meets with the sun in the same 
zodiacal sign; comp. p. 25. The cvcle of the solar year 
corresponds to the day of the Micro year, and is therefore 
divided into 12 double hours.^ The corresponding measure 
of distance is the mile, which according to Oriental ideas answers 
to a double hour. The counting simply by hours would 
correspond to the division of the year into 2 (summer and 
Winter = day and night). The unit of this division is the 
second: 3600 seconds (chief unit of the sexagesimal system) 
= 60 minutes == 1 hour. 12 possesses a peculiar significance as 

1 The division of tlie eartii into twelve countries, symbolised by beasts, and the 
tvvelve-year periods of the East-Asialic animal cycle, correspond to the cycle of 
twelve ; see p. 55 sdy. 

^^ In India a twelve-year cycle is called vrihaspati mäna, Jupiter year. Also the 
Chinese have an ancient cycle of twelve years ; see Stern, "^^/A Gel. Anz., 1S40 
2028. ' ' 

■• That there is no Hebrew word for hour is, of course, no proof that the time- 
reckoning of the hour did not exist. The sundial of Ahaz, 2 Kings xx. 9-1 1, and 
comp. Isa. xxwiii. 8, must have marked hours which correspond to the stages. 
In the Letters of Amarna the hours are called in " Canaanite " she-ti. Comp. 
III. R. 51, No. I : In the day and night equinoxes six Kaspu day, and six 
Kaspu night. Achilles Tatius, Isag. in Aratum (see Winckler, K.A.T., 3rd ed., 
32S) says the Chaldeans took the ßoth part of the hour in the equinox as the 
unit of the solar orbit. The unit of the Micro-year, therefore, is the double 
minute, which corresponds to the daily forward movement of the sun through the 
ecliptic. In the twelve hours of its daily course overhead the sun moves a 720th 
part of the circuit. The corresponding part of the day (of the Micro-year) is a 
double minute. 



68 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

the niimber of the intercalary days (iiistead of 5) in the bringing 
up of the true lunar year (354) to 366 days.^ 

13. In the caiculation of 12 intercalary days as festival time 
the 13th day is the beginning of business ; see pp. 18, ii. f. It is 
so in the Arabian lunar year ; see Winckler, jP., ii. 350. This is 
the meaning of 13 along vvith the lunar number 318 ; Gen. xiv. 
4, 14. On the other hand, 13 is the number of an intercalary 
month which is signified by the 13th zodiacal sign, the Raven. 
The Persian calendar, e.g., reckons 360 days — 5 Gätü and a 
13th month every 120 years besides. In the Mexican Tona- 
laniatl (that is, Book of Fate, or Book of Good and Evil Days), 
which is founded upon calculations by means of Venus, 13 is 
one of the root numbers.- 

14. Number of the gate of the Underworld ; for example, 
in the Erishkigal myth, see A,0., i. 3, 2nd ed. 

15. Number of the füll moon (comp. fig. 15, p. 36); for 
instance, for this reason Nebuchadnezzar is said to have 
built his palace in 15 days; comp. Ex or. Iua\ ii. note 2, 24 
and 42. 

40. Rain and winter time are embodied in the Pleiades, 
which disappear in the light of the sun for 40 days, roughly 
speaking, and are heliacally abolished at the beginning of 
spring ; see p. 66. They are days of storm and misfortune, IV. 
R. 5 ; days of equinoctial storm when, according to Hesiod, 
Opera et dies, v. 385, navigation begins (see Winckler, 
K.A.T., 3rd ed., 389), comp. J.G., 27. 9. ' The number of the 
Pleiades is, therefore, that of all want and privation : 40 years 
in the wilderness under Moses, according to the Priestly Code ; 
Elijah wandered 40 days in the desert ; Ezra hid himself with 
5 men for 40 days in a secret place, Ezra iv. 14, 22; 40 days' 
fast, Matt, iv. 2 ; 40 days of the castus in the worship of Attis 

^ Up to the present attested only in Germanic regions there is twelfth night, 
with processions of the gods and decisions of Fate in Germanic mythology ; 
dreams predict the events of the Coming twelve months. 

- The s/iorf peiiod here amounts to 13 x 20 days, the /ö;;^period to fifty-two years. 
It may be explained as follows : the average time of the synodic revolution of 
Venus, which is repeatedly expressed in the Tonalamatl, amounts (broadly speaking) 
to 5S4 days ; eight solar years equal five revokitions of Venus. One solar year 5x73 
and one lunar year 8 x 73 give together 13 x 73 days. 20 x 13 x 73 days are fifty-two 
years. See Seier, Codex Vaticamts, No. 3773, ist part, p. 3 seq., Berlin, 1902, 



THE AGES 69 

in Rome ; 40 days' fast in the Roman calendar ; 40 stripes save 
one, 2 Cor. ii. 24, etc. : comp. A.B.A., 2nd ed., p. 87 f. 

TO, 72, 73. The number of the cycle according to the 
l^amushtu reckoning : 70 - 350 ^ 5 ; 72 = 360 -^ 5 ; 73 = 365 -f 5 ; 
see p. Q5. Hence 70 nations in the table of nations ; 70 
(variant 72) disciples as the larger cycle ; 72 eiders in the 
academy of Rabbi Elieser; 70 (72) translators of the Bible 
(Septuagint), etc. ; see Winckler, Ex or. lui\ ii. 12, p. 62. 

XII. The Ages 
The cycle of the great stai's gives the divisions of time in 
the calendar : day, year, feon. The di\ ision of the cycle into 
72 1 corresponds to the periods of the 72 solar years in which 
the movement of the fixed stars has advanced one day ahead of 
the sun. Five such periods correspond to the year of 360 days,- 
50 X 72 gives the Babylonian Saros.^ The most important 
calculation in the Babylonian calendar is that which reckons 
the cycle by the gradual backward movement of the equinoctial 
points through the zodiac.^ 

^ See above. The " Egyptian" division into 2 or 4 or 12 or 36 or 72 is borne 
witness to by Jamblichus, De Myslcrüs, viü. 3 (Bunsen, Die Plejaden, p. 22). 

- In practica it corresponds equally in solar or lunar reckoning, as the month 
has by solar reckoning thirty days (and to these are added the intercalary days) 
and the new moon falls also alternately on the igth or ßoth. 

" 500 X 72 = 36,000 years amounts to the cycle of Berossus ; 5000x72 = 360,000 
years is the greal year of the Chinese. This corresponds literally to the idea, 
a thousand years are as one day, Ps. xc. 4 (see Bunsen, loc. cit., iS ff.). Upon the 
Egyptian Sirius periods, see A.B.A., 2nd ed., pp. 61 ff., and comp. Mahler in 
O.L.Z., 1905, 473 ff. : "Just as the Egyptian conception of the earthly geography 
of Egypt was a picture of celestial geography, so also the calendar was a copy of 
the great celestial calendar, the 'day' corresponded to the 'quadriennium,' the 
' year ' to the great ' Sothis period ' : the quadriennium consisted of 1461 earthly 
days, the Sothis period of 146 1 Egyptian years." 

* The following material may be noted in regard to the universally prevalent 
idea of the ages: according to Plutarch and Bundehesh, the " ruling age of 
the long period" following on the " infinite age" consists of 12,000 years which 
are ordained by Ormuzd for this world : 4 x 3000 years. A sign ofthe zodiac iiiarks 
each millcimium. The Book of Laws of Mani has four ages, each one worse than 
the last ; 4800 plus 3600 plus 2400 plus 1200 (an artificial System founded on old 
ideas). The Etriiscatts, according to Suidas, s.v. Typprivla (Tyrrhenia), have 
twelve thousand years, eack tmder the riile of a sign of the zodiac. Hesiod and 
Ovid witness to the teaching of the ever-deteriorating ages (gold, silver, copper, 
iron) in the classical world ; Hesiod, Opera, 90 ff. ; Ovid, Metatn., i. 89 ff. The 
Biblical and Jewish material will be treated later ; see Index, " Ages." 



70 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

The inclination of the earth's axis to the sun's path is variable. 
Corresponding to this the point of intersection of the apparent 
path of the siui with the equator also moves. The ancients observed 
the following phenomenon : the position of the sun at the spring 
equinox moves as observed froni year to year farther westward. 
In seventy-two yeai's the advance has reached a length of one 
degree^ so that it takes 72 x 360 = 25920 years for the equinoctial 
point to move through the whole zodiac, and on an average 2l60 
years for it to move through one zodiacal sign. The spring point 
passes in this course once through the water region and the fire 
region. Here lies the basis for the teaching of the destruction of 
the World by the Deluge and by a.Jire-ßood.'^ VVe believe it to be 
beyond all doubt that the Babylonians already knew of the pre- 
cession (even if only in approximate calculations) in the oldest time 
known to us^ and based the teaching of the ages of the world upon 
it. The establishment of the east direction by the gnomon must 
have forced the phenomenon upon the notice of the observer. 
For further detail upon this, see A.B.A., 2nd ed.^ pp. 67 flf. 

" Berossus, who interpreted Bei, says that everything (previously 
described) is ruled by the course of the stars^ and he is so certain 
of this, that he fixes the times of the burning of the world and of 
the Flood. He maintains that the world will be burnt when all 
the Stars which now move in ditferent orbits meet together in 
Cancer (in the Aries reckoning the solstitial point is in Cancer ; 
we still speak of the tropic of Cancer), so that they all stand in 
even line in the same sign^ and that the future flood (following 
thereupon) will occur when the same conjunction happens in 
Capricorn (i.e. winter solstice). For the former is the summer 
solstice and the latter winter solstice ; these are the determinative 
zodiacal signs, for in theui lie the solstice points {inomenta) of the 
ages" (Seneca, see Müller, Fragm. hist. grcec, ii. 510)."- Compai-e 
Jos., Auf., i. 2, S. Adam foretold a fire-flood and a deluge. 

1 A light-flood in Opposition to the water-flood (Jensen, K.B.^ vi. i, 563, 580, 
and with him Zimmern, K.A. T., yd ed., 495, 549) does not exist. The Biblical 
Story of the Deluge, meant as an historical event, is related after the manner of 
the mythological teaching of the ages of the universe (water-flood) ; the end of 
the world is in like manner told according to this teaching (fire-flood). 

^ The opinion might be held that the Statement of Berossus can only be explained 
by the precession through the water region and fire region. According to Seneca, 
Berossus based it upon something eise. When to the eye of the observer all the 
planets stand in Cancer, the destruction of the world by fire will occur (that is to 
say, the planetary divinities gather together to build a new world) ; when all the 
planets stand in Capricorn, the deluge will occur. Has the recorder varied one of 
the Statements ? The conflagration of the world in the Avesta can also only rest 
upon the teaching of the passage of the world in its development through the fire 
region. The Mexicans have four ages of the world, amongst them the fire-flood and 
water-flood ; nearly all the Aiiiericaii cosmogonies mention both these catastrophes ; 
See Ehrenreich, Die Alythen ii. Legenden der süda?nerikamschen Uj Völker, p, 30. 



THE AGES 71 

The Statement of Berossus about the age of the Belüge 
agrees with the mention of -' kings before the Flood " in contra- 
distinction to kings after the Flood, for one conceives in the 
past : 

1. Lam. abiibi, the Age before the Flood. — That would 
correspond to the time when the spring point moved through 
Anu's realm in the zodiac (4. Signs). The beginning was the 
age of Paradise, and then the sages lived.^ Berossus mention s 
along with the sages the primeval kings, who together lived 
through 120 Saren. See chapter on "Ancestors"; and comp. 
Rost., M.V.Ä.G., 1897, 105 seq. 

2. Age ofthe Flood. — The spring point passed through Ea's 
realm, before passing into Gemini, where history begins. 

3. The Historical Age.— Th.^ spring point passes through 
BePs kingdom. The end is the fire-flood, the summer solstice 
of the ages. Thence arises the new world. 

From traces of calendar reforms in the course of Babylonian 
history it would appear that the Babylonians in historical ages 
made use of calculations taken from records of the niost ancient 
times.^ 

The Observation was then continued into the periods of history 
which we know, and explains the appUcation of the theory of the 
ages of the world in the Book of Danieb in Persia and in India, etc. 

Age of Geiiiiiii 

In the most remote time upon which we have as yet any 
historical light,^ the spring et[uinox was in the zodiacal sign of 
Gemini.- Sin and Nergal, i.e. moon and sun, were looked upon 

^ Assurbanipal speaks of insciiptions from the time before the Flood ; a magic 
text mentions a decision of the old sages before the Flood. K.A.T., 3rd ed., 
537. V. R. 44, 7.0a speaks of kings "after the Flood." 

- The importance of the age-reckoning in Ancient-Oriental history is acknow- 
ledged by H. Winckler ; see Geschichte Israels, ii. 282 seq. Ex or. lux, 1. 
27. 50 ; comp. F., ii. 370, and now also iii. 289 seq. 

^ About the traces of older ages, see Winckler, F., ii. 368, and Hommel, Aufs, 
u. Abh., ii. 446 seq. The late Egyptian Cancer-reckoning is an archaism. 

■^ This at least appears to be so looking backward from the zodiacal age best 
known to iis in legend. In the historical di'g^ of Gemini it did not fall at the spring 
point, but at the autumn point. But the fact remains the same. If the sun was 
in Gemini at the spring equinox the füll moon would be in Opposition at the 
autumn point. 



72 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

as twins by the Babylonians, as we shall see later,^ that is to say, 
the waxing aiid the waning nioon. But in their solar and lunar 
reckoning the moon takes foremost place, being in this system 
the life-bringer, in Opposition to the sun, which represents the 
Underworld. Therefore an age of Gemini must in everv case 
have been an age of the Moon-god. Sargen says in his state 
inscription of the kings of Meluhha that since far-distant days, 




Fig. 



-Janus, on a Roman libralas. 



since the ieon of the moon {acU Nannar), his fathers had sent no 
niore messengers to his predecessors. The royal astrologers 
therefore who connected the events with the stars appear to 
have calculated by the old age. Other statements by Sargon 
also show the same phenomenon that, instead of Nisan, S'ivcm, 
which lies two places backwards, is treated as the beginning of 
the year, as the month of the destiny-ruling Moon-god (bei 
purusse)? In the age of Gemini the year began with Sivan and 
ended with Ijjar.^ 

1 P. 114. 

'^ This was the age of the immigration of the Semitic Babylonians. 
•' Comp, with this pp. 42 f. 



THE AGES 73 

The Roman calendar begins the year with Janns, whose two 
faces represent the two halves of the moon ; he therefore corre- 
sponds to the age of Geniini (lunai- age^ see fig. 23), and the 
Dioroscuros myth is also therefore established as the beginning of 
Roman history ; see Winckler. This seems to be an artificial 
archaism reaching back possibly to the Etruscans. In the Roman 
calendar the 7-12 month is called Quinctilis tili December ; one 
sees therefore that b}' the great time-piece of the universe one is 
two stages slow.i 

Age of Taurus 

From about 3000 onwards the calendar did not agiee with 
the actual position of the spring equinoctial point, and the 
reckoning would have to be changed and made to agree with 
Taurus, for in that sign the old spring point was behindhand. 
This happened in fact, and the reform was carried out by Sargen. 
The advancement of the spring point was used by Hanniiurabi 
to glorify his own reign as the beginning of a new epoch, and 
the " exaltation of Marduk," tutelary deity of Babylon, feil to 
hini ; but we have no direct evidence, as in the case of thereforin 
of the calendar under Nabonassar. 

To correspond with the precession the beginning of the year 
must have been transferred into Ijjar, one month backwards, 
and the end of the year into Nisan. For this we have no direct 
evidence, but Avhen the King of Assyria is inaugurated in the 
second month Ijjar, instead of in Nisan, which in the age of 
Gemini is the spring equinox point and the new year, it can 
only be explained by this phenomenon.- That this new age, 
following that of Gemini, that is, " the Lunar Age,"" should 
bear the sun character was to be expected, because the 
Hanimurabi dynasty originated in the City of the Sun, Sippar. 
And it is also in agreement in so far as Älarduk is essentially 
the Sun-god.^ But the sun appears here, not as partner of the 

^ For the meaning of the Roman names, comp. p. 42. 

^ It is proved by Hommel's Ahh., 461 ff., that the eponymy of Sargun 
corresponds quite accurately to the age of Aries ; in the third year of his reign he 
was eponym, corresponding to the third age. The same reckoning is shown with 
Nebuchadnezzar. Sargon showed his friendliness to Babylon by this recognition 
of the calendar of Nabonassar. But at certain times in Assyria they did not 
adopt the advance ; perhaps in conscious Opposition to Babylon they kept to the 
old calendar, like the Russians of the present day. 

^ Hommel's view, that sun-worship is genuine Babylonian and moon-worship 
West Semitic {Grundriss, p. S4), is untenable in the form brought forward. It is 



74 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

moon, but as divided into two and four, and the chief point is 
in every case that which marks the spring equinox, the victory 
of Summer over the power of darkness. This point in the 
universe, as we saw p. 26 above, was originally given to Nebo ; 
Nabu is calied " foreteller,"" and as Morning Star he foretells the 
new day in the year and in the year of the universe cyele. But 
we know that his place was taken by Marduk, and thus the 
Privileges of Babylon were founded upon occurrences in the 
astral universe. 

Hammurabi boasts that the elevation of Marduk has fallen 
to him. Babylon was metropolis of the world because Marduk, 
symbolised by the bull, was represented in the age of the Sun 
as the victorious god of the year, who then also represented the 
entire astral universe.^ 

only correct in so far that the agricultural Babylonians preferably always fostered 
sun-worship (the sun bringing grovvth and harvest), whilst the nomadic Babylonians 
west of the Euphrates preferably fostered moon-worship, for the heat of the sun 
was their enemy, the light of the moon their friend. But the worship of sun and 
moon have always coexisted. Its astral character, as we have seen, makes the 
Ancient-Oriental religion a calendar religion, but every calendar which reckons by 
the seasons is necessarily founded upon the equalisation of sun and moon periods, 
and the velationship of astral to natural phenomena runs throughout them all. 
Certainly one or the other has been made most conspicuous for veasons possibly 
resting upon local cult, possibly caused by the interests of nomadic life on the one 
hand and of agricultural life on the other. The calendars may be founded upon a 
System which embraces the whole Eastern world, for Babylon is the land of the 
moon, and Egypt is the land of the sun, but neither in doctrine nor in populär 
mythology of the East can there ever be a question of the sun without its relation- 
ship to the moon Coming into consideration, and vice versa. In the oldest theories 
known to us the moon had preference, later the sun, When, from the time of 
Sargon onwards, the sun took foremost rank, still lunar-worship also retained its 
rights, and was never superseded in its places of worship. For example, 
Hammurabi received the laws from the Sun-god, but he also cared for the well- 
being of the moon-city, Ur. The preference for the sun in later ages takes its rise 
in the spiritual supremacy of Babylon. In very late times the moon was again 
brought into prominence in the East, through the reformation of Mohammed, 
which was intentionally connected with the calendar and institutions of the moon- 
city of Haran. In this as in many other points the work of Mohammed shows 
itself to be the latest Ancient-Babylonian Renaissance ; see Winckler, AI. V.A. G., 
1901, 237 ff. Upon G. Hüsing's opposing view, see Im Kampfe ti/ii den Alten 
Orient, i. I, 14 f., 34 t. 

^ In any case it was partly owing to chance ; tlie calendar reform came to the 
help of the political and social Situation, comp. Monotheistischen Strömlingen- 
innerhalb der babyl. Religion, p. 7 seq. Also the Jupiter character of Marduk 
comes into account. After Venus, Jupiter is the brightest planet. Did Jupiter, 



THE AGES 75 

Age of Aries 

In the eighth Century b.c. the spring point letrograded into 
the sign of Aries. Tlie otherwise insignificant King Nabonassar 
{N(ihu-natsh\ 747 to 734 b.c.) is brought into prominent notice 
through the astronomical recognition and establishment of this 
fact. Both the cimeiforni "Babylonian Chronicle" and the 
Canon of Ptoleniy begiu with hini,^ for, froni an astronomical 
point of \ie\v, he begins a new age, and we may conclude that 
he carried out a reform in calendar and time-reckoning which 
was acknowledged as authoritative in Babylon, and Syncellus 
says that according to the testimony of Alexander Polyhistor 
and Berossus certain historical records relating to his pre- 
decessors v»ere destroyed by Nabonassar in order that chronology 
should begin only with him.- The reform of the age of Aries 
did not come into füll force in Babylon, for its astronomical 
beginning feil together with the gradual decline of Babylon. 
But the overwhelming power of Babylonian civilisation is still 
shown bv the influence of the Marduk-Taurus age throughout 
centuries following. Till Xerxes Babylon remained mistress of 

which passes through one sign of the zodiac yearly, roughly speaking, happen just 
at the decisive time to stand in Taurus ? Marduk is pictured standing upon the 
bull ; was this symbol given him because of the new age and to establish him as 
Chief of the gods? Or was the bull character of Merodach, tutelary deity of the 
town, decided by the change of residence of the Hammurabi dynasty from Sippar 
to Babylon ? We may compare with this the place taken by the sanctuary of Aries 
in the oasis of Amnion, when, in the age of Aries, the intellectual centre of Baby- 
lonia was transferred to Egypt. It is to be noted that the ideogram of the planet 
Jupiter means '"Bull of the Sun," and is explained as " Furrow of Heaven " 
(ploughed by the Bull of the Sun) ; see Hommel, Aufs. ic. Abhandl., p. 356, and 
comp. p. 59 above. The tremendous influence exercised by the Marduk-Jupiter 
age over times reaching beyond its own limits may be recognised in the fact that 
Greeks as well as Romans elevated Zeus-Jupiter, though not a specially prominent 
deity to theni, to be suminns detis in place of their own tutelary town-god. Also 
the doctrine upon which the Mithra cult is founded indicates the age of Taurus as 
its origin. 

^ K.B., ii. 274, 290. 

- C/iroiwgraphia, 207 (comp. p. 61 above) : auvayayiüv ras irpd^ets TÖiiv riph 
aiiTov /SacriAea)!/ T](p<ivi(TiV, onais air' avrov 7] KaOapidurjcris y^v7]Tai. rSiv XaKSaiaiv 
ßadiXioiv. In reforms in other ages the fables of the burniiig of the Books, in Persia 
ander Alexander, and in China under Tshin-shi-hoang, 213 B.C., correspond to the 
breaking of the Tables. This motif may be taken into consideration also in regard 
to the burning of the library of Alexandria. It indicates the beginning of the era 
üf Islam in Egypt under Omar ; see Winckler, Ex or. lt(.\, ii. 2, 63. 



76 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

the East, and after the destruction of the temple of Marduk 
the care of the traditions passed over into Egypt. The oracle 
of Jupiter Amnion in the oasis of Amnion was held in peculiar 
veneration by the Greeks ; Alexander the Great consulted this 
oracle, and Jupiter Amnion is essentially identical with Marduk, 
but he is worshipped with the ram's head corresponding to the 
new age. Evidence of the use of the Aries reckoning is to be 
found in the figure of the apviov, which in Egyptian soothsaying 
about a new age appeared speaking in the time of King 
Bokchoris, according to Manetho.^ In the same sense Christ, 
as bringer of the new age, is described in the Apocalypse as 
apvLOv." 

XIII. MOTIFS OF THE AgES AND AsTRAL MvTHOLOGICAL 
MOTIFS IN HiSTORY 

Oriental history unconnected with the ages of the universe 
is inconceivable ; the stars ruled the changes of time. That 
the oldest Biblical writers are silent on the subject does not 
prove ignorance, and the Israelites also were certainly acquainted 
with the calculations in all times before Daniel, and we shall 
find traces, though the form of it varies.^ 

There is a great liking for indicating the ages by metals. 
Certain metals, like certain colours, etc., correspond to the 
planets. Silver belongs to the moon, gold to the sun, copper 
to Venus. The three ages, accordingly, in Babylonian reckon- 

1 See Kroll, " Vom König Bokchoris" in the Festgabe für Büdingcr, 1S9S. 

- See B.N.T., pp. 16 ff. Our calendar to the present day still names the 
spring point in Aries, though it has long ago moved back in the course of the 
precession into the fish (Pisces), and it speaks of the tropics of Cancer and of 
Capricorn, though they should for long past be called tropics of Gemini and of 
Sagittarius. Possibly the "fish" symbol of early Christianity may be explained 
by Pisces. On the catacomb lamps there are two fish, one swallowing the other ; 
the explanation out of the letters of the word Ix^^s : Irjcrovs Xpiaros 6eov vlos 
(TWTrip, is a later ingenious play. The Christians, influenced by the Oriental custom 
of characterising the ages according to the precession, may have symbolised the 
dawning era by the fish, to distinguish it from the heathen age of Aries. The 
zodiacal signs are of varied size, and the picture of the fish is lengthened out and 
begins close to the ram. In the Talmud the Messiah is called p-i;, who will 
bring a new law. That is certainly a play of words on ii/ln, "fish." A Jewish 
commentary on Daniel (fourteenth Century) expects the Messiah in the sign of Pisces. 

^ For furlher detail, see in section " Biblical Ages." 



MOTIFS OF THE AGES 77 

ing, must be the silver, the gold, and the copper age. Instead 
of this, however, in later times, for various reasons, the reckon- 
ing was used which gave the first rank to the sun — gold, silver, 
and copper ages.^ As \ve have seen, the sun in divine Opera- 
tions equals Saturn, therefore the Golden Age is also the age 
of Saturn.- That is the reckoning used in Daniel and in the 
West by Hesiod. There has been added to the three past 
ages the present, the Iron age. Whether this iron age corre- 
sponds to the astral System, or is only a practica! addition 
arising out of the conflicts of the present, raay be left undecided. 
In any case, the order suggests the pessimistic thought, that 
the times become worse, and the world yearns for the return of 
the Golden Age.^ 

The change in the actual ages is represented in certain myths 
which mirror the System of the universe.^ These myths are 
for the Ancient-Oriental historian what metrics and lano-uasfe 
are for the poet, and light and shade or colour for the painter. 
The characteristic of the beginning of the history of every age 
is specially that the beginning person bears the features of the 
astral god who coi"responds to the beginning of the age.^ 

Examples. — The stories of the birth of Sargon I. with the motif 
of secret birth, exposure^ and deliverance ; and see the stories of the 
infancy of Moses (Exod. ii. 2), to which a host of pavallels from 
Babylonian texts and from all over the world may be found. The 
Indian legends of Buddha and Krishiia, the Persian Zoroaster, the 
Chinese Fohi, begin in the same way. The same motifs are 
shown in Egyptian stories in the mythology of the birth stories of 
the king's sou (see Erman, Agt/ptische Religion, p. 40, where they 
are characterised as "crazy"). It is the Marduk-Osiris legend, 
corresponding to the Taurus age, which is known to iis in this 
form only at present, as the myth of the founder of a dynasty, and 

■' It coiresponds to the Egyptian view thruugh which the philosophia orienlalis 
passed to the West. 

- Winckler, F., iü. 187 seq., holds that according to the Babylonian order an age 
of Nebo followed that of Marduk. But the division in two parts, Nel)o-Marduk 
(winter and summer), corresponds in division in quarters to beginning with 
Nergal-Saturn. 

" Beginning with the sun corresponds to the order of the weck, which begins 
with Sunday ; beginning with Saturn to the order (Jewish) starting with Saturday. 

•* Compare with this the concUisions drawn by Winckler in Ex Oriente hex, i. 
I, p. 33 et seq., from which, as may be seen from the deductions given above, I 
differ in some points, ^ H. Winckler, Gesch. Isr., ii. 10. 



78 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

not yet in the Mardiik myths themselves^ though they doiibtless 
existed. The Romulus legend adds the motif of the 7'«7« (Gemini) 
age, an archaism which we met with on p. IS, as also in the Pei'sian 
Cyrus-Cambyses legend and the Athenian legend of the expulsion 
of the tyrants. H. Winckler explains fi'om the motif of this oldest 
of the ages the origin of all historical legends^ which show on the 
one side the moon form, and on the other a Dioi'oscuros legend 
(see p. 7.'^). The main stream of the emigration seems to occur in 
the Tauvus age. We meet with the motif of the Aries age in 
Alexander, who had himself painted by Apelles as Jupiter, and 
who consulted the oracle of the i-am-headed Ammon-Jupiter in 
the oasis of Jupiter-Ammon (see p. 76). In the Apocalypse the 
symbolising of the victorious Christ as the Arnion corresponds 
to the age of Aries (see p. 76). Following another motif, Senna- 
cherib, who desired to open a new epoch by the destruction of 
Babylon, had himself represented as a new Adam (Adapa ahkaUu = 
Marduk, see Chap. IV.). Sargon says that 350 kings reigned 
before him, and with him begins a new lunav age. Babylonian 
and Assyrian rulers were specially fond of having the tablet 
inscriptions of their reigns adorned with the motifs of the age of 
Deliverance (Assurnasirpal, Mardukbaladan IL, Assurbanipal, and 
also Cyrus ; see i?.iV. T"., pp. 27 ff). Since the ??/j^;? (prophet) was 
" foreteller," that is, "bringer" of the new age (see p. 90), 
his history also was endowed with the motif of the new age, as 
we find in the stories of Elijah and Elisha. It is the same with 
the figures of that " Deliverer " who comes to the rescue in any 
trouble, and thus is the type of the great expected deliverer (in 
the Biblical sphere : Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Joshua, the Judges, 
David, and others). 

The myth shows itself in word motif, and play upon words 
and motifs, either interwoven with the historical niaterial or 
joined on to the unessential features of the story, especially in 
the application of artificial naraes and pseudonyms. Certain 
mythological presentments are commonly used as the typical 
expression for certain events. The victory of a hero appears as 
victory ovev the dragon ; crossing the sea or river in a dangerous 
crisis is the " dismemberment of the dragon '' motif. Instead 
of the combat with the dragon we find the Slaughter of Five, 
(Epagomena as representative of the end of winter time), 
killing of the tyrant (Orion) or the giant,^ with the motif of 
drunkenness in harvest time or at sheep-shearing, battle of the 
Titans, slaughter of the seventy sons in extermination of a race, 

and so on. 

1 Comp. p. 93. 



MOTIFS OF THE AGES 79 

The same thing may be said of this mythological web as of 
the poems : " The true myth poem, like creative nature, is never 
arbitrary, there is an appointed place even for thiiigs seemingly 
introduced only for ornament." The historical legends of the 
time of Alexander, of the Persians, and of old Roman history 
bear the same marks ; and particularly the history of ^Mohammed 
and his followers. In Western Europe we have the histories of 
Kino; Arthur and the Frankish stories of Charlemao;ne. 

The assertion that this mythologic historical form of story 
plays its part also in Blble history has now stirred up consider- 
able excitement.^- Winckler's Geschichte Israels, ii., has a 
tendency to point out Bible history as a specially characteristic 
example of the mythological form of presentment. In this 
Winckler goes too far. We do not believe, for instance, that 
the triad (moon and sun in the manifestation of the two halves, 
Marduk and Nebo) is systematically used — Sanl-moon, David- 
Marduk, Solomon, Nebo : it should only be taken as the motif 
in individual cases. But there is no doubt that the fabulous 
embellishment of later times is worked in systematically. 
In any case we are dealing with an epoch-making discovery, 
which is of utmost importance in understanding the Old Testa- 
ment mode of speaking. It is there fore with füllest considera- 
tion that in the controversial treatise, Im Kavipf um Babel und 
Bibel,"^ we have spoken in behalf of the " mythological web "" ; 
and it '\\ill be the aini of this book also to show how the 
Ancient-Babylonian ideas and myths of the universe have left 
their traces in the Old Testament. Since the appearance of 
the first edition of this book the existence of this mythological 
garb of Old Testament narration has gained such wide- 
spread recognition that its admission to the ranks of Biblical 
exeo-esis amongst experts is now assured. A most important 

^ Tammuz motifs in the history of Joseph ; Tammuz, er Marduk-Nebo motifs 
in the history of Moses. Marduk motifs in Joshua, David, etc. Examples of 
typical motifs : Dragon combat in the exodus from Egypt ; dismemberment of 
the dragon in the passage through the sea and in the passing over Jordan (see Exod. 
xiv., Joshua iii.) ; kilHng of the seventy sons of Ahab, 2 Kings x. 6 sei/, (comp. C. 
Niebuhr, O.L.Z., 1S97, 380 i-ty.) ; conquest of the five kings (Gen. xiv., Joshua 
X. seq., Numb. xxxi.), 

- Leipzig, J. C. Hinrichs, 4th ed., 1903, 



80 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

question is, then : In tracing the mythological allusions, 
how miich of historical circumstance is to be left ? No general 
rules can be laid down, and the decision must be made in each 
individual case. 

I would propose the following leading propositions for dis- 
cussion. So far as concerns the mythological connection, they 
lie at the root of the deductions of this book : — 

1. Mythological motifs, which adhere to the narrative, prove 
nothing against the historical probability of the whole fact. 
Sargon I. was held by Assyriologists to be a mythical person, 
because the stories of the secret birth, exposure in a basket, 
and discovery by Ishtar were told of him. Now we possess 
transcripts of annals of his and of his son Naranisin showing 
them to be powerful rulers. Minos tili lately was taken to be 
unhistorical on account of the mythological character of the 
stories handed down about him ; but in the latest discoveries 
of Cretan civilisation there are at least traces of a person very 
like Minos. Midas of Phyjgia, in spite of the asses' ears, the 
mythical lust for gold, and the Gordian knot, is established bv 
Assyrian inscriptions as a historical personality. In view of 
these considerations it seems not impossible to find historic 
foundation even for such a figure as Samson, whose story can 
only be taken as pure mythology, and whose very nanie has 
been used as proof of his mythical character. Froni this point 
of view Winckler also takes sonie historic contents to be 
possible in the stories of the fathers which are held bv the 
" critical-historical" school to be quite without founclation 
in history. 

Winckler, in his Geschichte Israels, has not altogether avoided 
the obvious sophism which with the establishment of mytho- 
logical features eliminates the historical fact, but in the closino- 
chapter, in a recapitulation of the deductions, he expressly 
agrees that a correct knowledge of these forms of expression 
and of the conceptions of the ages of antiquity may be united 
with the most perfect faith in regard to the facts related just 
as well as with the most far-reaching scepticism. 

2. A distinction is to be made between the various parts of 
the Old Testament. The primitive tales of the Bible must be 



MOTIFS OF THE AGES 81 

JLidged differently to the legends of tlie fathers and the stories 
of the time before tlie kings, and these again differently to the 
stories of the time of the kings lying in füll light of history. 

The ■primitive tales are an introduction to the history and 
laws of the Israelites, which were edited, that is, collected, in 
later revision. In the light of the knowledge of their time they 
take their niaterial of the creation and developnient of the world 
from the Ancient-Oriental teaching (comp, herewith Chap. IV.). 
They are not fahles nor diluted myths,^ but a view of life made 
use of as religion. The System, the outlines of which they 
kept in the background as far as possible, was for them a nieans 
for conveyance of creative religious ideas. How far it may have 
to do, for example, in the story of the Flood, with a tradition 
of actual facts cannot be decided with our present means for 
criticism. 

The stories qf the Patriarchs must be tested anew as to their 
historical credibility. It is not possible that they present an 
ideal story taken from former times, for the milieu has proved 
itself to be historic down to the minutest detail, and the actors 
also are historic. Even the existence of documentary sources 
for the primitive time of Israel does not seem to us out of the 
question. The historical authenticity of isolated features can 
likewise not be established by means of literary criticism. In 
any case, the historical truth of a relation in the mind of the 
reporter .should not be denied because some legend known to 
be the dress of a cosraic occurrence is interwoven through it ; 
as, for example, Jacob's dream, JacoVs conflict at the ford of 
Jabbok, and so on. Whether they gave history a slight turn 
to favour the mythological motif, or M-hether in other cases the 
motif lies in an embellishing side issue, or in giving prominence 
to a play upon words, or in accentuation of some in itself 
incidental fact, or in the invention of significant names and so 
on, are questions which in future cannot be ignored by students 
of the Old Testament. 

^ Only faint mylhological agreement can be laid down as a fact, as for example 
in tohn and bohti. Mythology is the popularising and substantiating of the teach- 
ing, and difficult ideas were involuntarily lepiaced by their mythological pictures 
and Symbols in the Biblical history of the primitive ages also. The same pheno- 
menon is shown by every religious doctrine. 

VOL. I. 6 



82 ANCIENT-EASTERN DOCTRINE AND COSMOS 

The mythological motifs form only an artificial accessory 
part in the true historical boohs} The authors of the books 
known to us, who used extracts only from annals now probably 
lost, understood the motifs and improved them as a means for 
conveying scientific ideas,- and the mythological embellishments 
and added mythological anecdotes are easily recognisable. 

Many histories in which conservative exegetes say we must 
acknowledge traces of the poetic fable may be thiis explained. 
We may call to mind the story of the giant Goliath,^ the 
Statements about David's warriors (2 Sam. xxi. 15 ff. ; comp. 
1 Chron. xxi. (xx.) 1 fF.), the embroideries of the stories about 
Nabal and Abigail (1 Sam. xxv.) and Amnon and Tamar 
(2 Sam. xiii.), the burning of JoaVs field in the story of 
Absalom (2 Sam. xiv. 30 ff.), and the embellishment of the 
threefold combat of Gibeon (2 Sam. ii. 12 ff.). 

^ The special problem of the sources drawn from in the time of Joshua and 
Judges will be treated in another place. 

^ Examples in Winckler, Gesch. Isr., ii. 31, 21S, comp. 277. The writers are 
only partially skilled in the mythological manner To some it is agreeable, others 
have suppressed it, others favoured it. The pseudographists turn it into frank 
Opposition to some of the writers of the Canons who iise the mythological style 
delicately and sensitively. We shall give examples later. 

3 P. 93, n. 4. 



CHAPTER II 

BAEYLOXIAN REMGIOX 

I. The Mysteries 

The Ancient-Oriental doctrine taught the aim and end of the 
created universe, and represented divine knowledge ; it was 
therefore identical with " wisdom '' or science and could not 
become common property any more than can the science of our 
own day. The doctrine was, however, popularised and taught 
to the people by mythology (in Greek times the oriental 
m>ths were called tepo? Aoyo?) and dramatic festival plays, about 
which we have as yet very little evidence from Babylonia. The 
priestly doctrine was transmitted to initiates by an occult 
discipline and by the Mysteries (nisirtic). We learn that 
Enmeduranki, one of the seven primeval kings, received the 
secret of Anu [of Bei and Ea], the tablet of the gods, the 
fablet of omePiS (?), the mystery of heaven [and earth] and 
taught them to his son. It is said further that the sage, the 
wise one (jnudii), guarded the mysteries of the great gods, and 
made his son swear by tablet and stylus to do the same. This 
" tablet of the secrets of heaven and earth,'' like the " books of 
primeval ages," represented in fable, according to Berossus, the 
celestial book of revelation. Also in other places there is 
mention of tradition of a secret doctrine. At the end of the 
epic Enunia elish, which glorifies Marduk as Dragon-slayer, 
Creator of Worlds, and Lord of Fate, it is said of the fifty 
names of honour in which the circle of the universe is secreted : 
" They shall be guarded, and the ' First ' shall teach them, the 
wise and the learned shall ponder them together, the father 
shall transmit and teach them to his son." Also the tablet 

83 



84 BABYLONIAN RELIGION 

inscriptions in the library of Assurbanipal clifFerentiate between 
the learned and the unlearned (for example, V. R. 64): "The 
wise shall show it to the wise : the unlearned shall not see it." ^ 
Nebuchadnezzar says the wise (ilhulanu) niay take note of bis 
inscriptions (mostly treating of temple-building).- 

Froni the nature of things we cannot expect to find monu- 
mental evidence of Babylonian occult science. But from analogy 
with later mystery cults which correspond to the Ancient- 
Oriental teaching (especially the mysteries of Isis and Attis and 
Mithra), and from the form of the Ancient-Oriental doctrine 
itself, we may draw the conclusion that the Mysteries dealt with 
three points : — 

1. The Observation and understanding of nature, leading to 
the knowledge that the phenomena of the starry heavens and of 
physical nature are a revelation of one centralised Divine Power. 

2. Establishment of the knowledge that death proceeds from 
life, and life from death, i.e. the secret of immortality.'' 

3. The secret of fellowship with the Divinity. This idea 
has in later times been greatly enlarged under non-Oriental 
influence, and has been especially connected with the desire for 
particular privileges in the other world (journey to heaven of 
the soul ; physical and ethical mysteries combined). But in 
my opinion, that traces of it exist in Babylon also is shown by 

(a) ascent of the planet towers being held as well pleasing to 

God, see p. 57 ; 

(b) the mystic connection of the solemnities in honour of the 

dead with the celebration of the death and resurrection of 
the god of the year, as shown in the worship of Tannnuz. 

1 In the Mosaic records the seventy eiders appear as holding a secret tradition. 
Jesus spoke of those who " have the keys of knowledge," and the chief points of 
the Christian doctrine also (creed and sacrament) were treated as mysteries to the 
heathen. In the Epistles to the Ephesians and the Colossians the Christian teach- 
ing is dealt with as ixvdrrtpiov, the <pavqpw(TLs of which is laid upon St Paul for all 
the World. 

- The " tradition of the wise men of Babylon" occupied Mani twelve years, 
according to the legend, after he had been commanded by the angel El taum 
(Companion of God) to separate himself from his surroundings ; see BischoiT, /w 
Reiche der Giiosis, p. 53. Also in the Yasna of the Avesta, the " wise" is dis- 
tinguished from the " ignorant." 

•* For detail on points l and 2, see Monotheist, Strö/imngen, pp. 10 ff. 



LATENT MONOTHEISM AND DIVINE TRIADS 85 

IL Latent Monotheism axd Divine Triads 

" As rsun and moon, heaven, earth, and sea are the same to all -^ 
mankind, but are called by difFerent names by different peoples, 
so tliere are various names^ and forms of adoration by which 
various nations worship that one only Being who governs all 
things.'"' Thus Plutavch, to whom we owe much Information 
about the ancient mysteries,^ forniulates the unitv of the old 
religions, which appear more and more to us also to be " dialects 
of one and the same language of the Spirit." 

In fact, the phenomena in the world of the " eternal starrs ■" 
and in the changes of physical nature were not " gods "' in the 
polytheistic sense to the initiated, but were interpreters of the 
one Divine Power, making itself known in many ways. Only in 
the populär religion are the stars themselves gods.- The 
teaching in each temple included the complete doctrine, and 
proves that the divinity was revealed in each special place in 
local form and manner according to the correspondence of the 
temple in_ question with the sacred district in heaven. The 
local god aj)pears in each particular district as an abstract of 
the complete Divine Power, the doctrine taught in his special 
temple showing him as chief benefactor, and the reniainder of 
the gods appearing as miracle-^orking saints ; " As the starry 
host surrounds the sun, so they busy themselves round about 
the Lord of the Universe," this holds good, imitatis mntandls, of 
the System in everv local cult, and in the political concentra- 
tions, which were always at the same time religious concentra- 
tions of every state and kingdom of the Ancient-East. Thus 
the doctrine of the " initiates " says of a place of moon-worship : 

"From Ist to 5th day the moon is called Anu, from 6th to J 
lOth day Ea, and from llth to 15th day Bel."^ 

In the temple of Marduk, in Babylon, they taught : 

" When the star of Marduk (the planet Jupiter) rises, it is 
Nebo ; when it stands (1^.^) a double-hour high, it is Marduk ; 
when it culminates, it is Nibiru." '^ 

^ He was an officer of the Delphic priesthood and Dionysos Mystic. 
- Comp. Chwolsohn, Z>ie Ssabier, ii. 714: "The idols were not gods, but 
representatives of the invisible deities, approached through them." 

" III. k. 55, No. 3. ■* III. R. 54, No. 5, On Nibiru, see pp. 21 seq. 



86 BABYLONIAN RELIGION 

In the same way the text, perhaps onlj transmitted froni the 
Babylonian times and which has been so much argued about, 
may be explained thus : ^ 

Ninib : Marduk as god of strength. 

Nergal : Marduk as god of battle. 

Bei : Marduk as ruler and governor. 

Nabu : Marduk as god of commerce (?). 

iShi : Marduk as Illuminator of the night. 

Shamash : Marduk as god of justice. 

Addu (Adad-Ramman) : Marduk as god of rain. 
From the doctrine of the zodiac as the book of revelation of 
the Divine Will, esoteric religion further developed a trinUarian 
-r vieiv of the Divinity. Sun, moon, and Venus are the regents of 
the zodiac. They form a triad, which in its combination, as 
does each in particular, shows the complete essence of the 
cosmic deity, as it does the various phenomena of the cycle. 
This triad proceeds from itself, returns into itself, and again 
rises. The four remaining planets correspond to the quarterly 
phases of these three regents and represent equally the universe 
with the Said phenomena (see pp. 14 fF.). According to the 
religious relationship of the temple in question, one or the other 
would always predominate in the worship to which the teaching 
of the calendar refers. The question always arises whether the 
deity at a certain place and at a certain time shows the charac- 
teristics of sun, moon, or Venus-Ishtar ; " but in every case the 
divinity represents also the complete cycle, which repeats its 
phenomena in every microcosmos of physical nature. 

The triad is connected with the System by the three being 
held to be children (two of them being wedded brother and 
sister, comp. p. 14 seq.)^ of Anu, " Father of the Gods,'' or of 
Bei, " Lord of the Zodiac."' 

^ S1-11-3, III. (Brit. Mus., i.e. No. 3 of the texts acquired, that is, registered 
on 3rd Nov. 1881). 

" Or also the character of Marduk in combination with Nebo, or of Ninib and 
Nergal, or of Tammuz in so far as he represents the life and death of Vegetation in 
the cycle. Compare now also Beitr, zur Alteriwuskiinde, iv. lo ff., by Landau, 
and See Winckler, F., iii. 274 ff. 

^ A conclusion to be drawn from the Tammuz myths ; Ishtar is then always 
lunar goddess, but the following shows that she may also bear solar character, and 
in that case her partner (brother) is lunar divinity. 



LATENT MONOTHEISM AND DIVINE TRIADS 87 

Anu 



Sin Shamash Ishtar 

wedded brother and sister 
Bei 

Sin Shamash Ishtar 

the relation of the three to each other here is 

Sin 

Shamash (male) and Ishtar 
or 
Sin 



Attar and Shamash (feminine) ^ 

or 
Shamash 



Sin and Ishtar (with solar character) 
Shamash 

Attar and (feminine) moon 
Hecate, Selene, etc. 

The relation of wedded brother and sister, or (what is the same 
tliin<T) the relation of the son to the wife-mother, is shown most 
plainly in the Tammuz-Ate-Dusares myths and the correspondmg 
mythological stories of love bringing destruction, or of the desceait 
into the Underworld and the deliverance. In these eases the 
deliverer bears lunar character and the rescued is solar or vice 
vensa, or one of the figures represents the circle ol hte, as is 
shoAvn ])p. 35 ff. 

Corresponding to the solar cycle with its two or four starting 
positions we find in the mythological teaching : 
1. A lunar cycle in four phases : 

(«) The horned new moon (sickle), who is to conquer 

the power of darkness— born of Ishtar ; 
{!)) The füll moon— wedding with Ishtar; 
(r) The dying moon— to whose rescue Ishtar descends 
into the Underworld. 
1 It is so in the ancient Arabian religions. In the mysteries of the Minjans 
(in the texts, Gl. 232) the women led the woman represenüng Shamash to Attar 
not a human sacrifice, as H. Grimme, O.L.Z., 1906, No. 2, ^al-s ^t) In he 
worship of Petra, Attar = Dusares, the black stone {^apd.uos x--ß-)' according 
to Epiphanius, see M. V.A.G,, 1901, 276 ff., is the wife-mother. 



88 BABYLONIAN RELIGION 

2. A solar-lunar cycle : 

(fl) The victorious sun of the equinox is borne from 
out the Underwoi'ld (winter, water region), there- 
fore is freed from the power of Tiamat ; 





FiG, 24.— The Caithaginian Queen of Heaven (Tanit), 
bearing sun and moon in her hands. 

(/;) The sun celebrates marriage with the füll moon of 
the solstice, and then dies (con(iuered by the 
hostile beast of the winter half). 
The mystery of the cosnios, based upon the teaching 



LATENT MONOTHEISM AND DIVINE TRIADS 89 



of the ema7iations, corresponds to the mystery of the 
cycle. 

We find in cosmogony the principle that a new tnnanatwn of 
the Divine revelat'wn al- 
ways corresponds to a 
new age. Fig. 25 illas- 
trates Osiris who brings 
the new world ^ proceed- 
ing from thetriadHathor, 
nioon and sun (Hathor 
bears kniar horns with 
the sur bet\\een theni 
upon her head). Osiris 
is identical with Marduk.'- 
Marduk appears as an 
emanation of Ea,' who is 
ilu ainelu, " Divine-nian "" 
(see p. 106). As such he 
is abJxallit, "Bearer of wis- 
dom," and identical with 
the tirst man Adapa, rjer 
amelnti ("'• Seed of the race 
of man ""), who hkewise is 
abkallu (see Chap. IV.) 
and corresponds to the 
new Adapa in the new 

age. Marduk is mediator betu een God and man (see pp. 106 ff.), 
and that is the doctrine of Eridu, which was transferred to 




Fig. 25. — Hathor-Isis with sun and moon on 
head, protecting Osiris. Berlin, 13,778. 



^ By victory over the dragon, as the doctrine of Amon teaches. \Ye should 
expect to find the creation of the new world taking place by union with the 
mother, as a Variation ; see p. 7. The c/ii7d of the sun, Tammuz-Osiris, becomes 
the beloved, that is, the husband of the Queen of Heaven and iMother-goddess. 
Figs. 26 and 27 represent the combat with Kingu and Tiamat, and the 
tiiad moon, sun, and Ishtar is indicated by crescent moon, tree of life (comp. 
Selene and Helios in Paradise, p. 24), and vagina ; thus in fig. 57, p. 151. 

'■^ As such he bears solar character, on the other hand he is also lunar revelation ; 
see p. 36, and note the example, p. S6, n. 3. 

^ The relation of Marduk to Ishtar, which corresponds to that of Osiris-Isis, is 
not yet proved by documentary evidence, but the legends relating to Marduk of 
the king's appointment to oftice show that it exists ; see Ex., ii. i seq. 



90 



BABYLONIAN RELIGION 



Marduk of Babylon. In Babylon-Borsippa before the time 
of its supremacy another doctrine was paramount which recog- 
nised NabCi-Nebo as herald of the new age and as mediator 
between God and man (comp. p. 39).^ 





Fig. 26. — Combat of the three great stars, see p. 89, n. i, 
against Kingu and Tiamat or corresponding powers. 
From a cast. Sea! cylinder in Brit. INIuseum. 



Fig. 27. — From Layard, 
Culte de Mithra. 



Upon the worshijo of the " highest God " in the cosmos, and 
further upon the monarchical polytheism of the populär reHgion 
and upon the theology of tlie Babylonian penitential psahns, see 
Monothcislischen Sttwnungcn innerhalb der babylonischen Religion, 
Leipzig, J. C. Hinrichs^ 1904. 

The teaching was conveyed to the people by nieans of the 
calendar festivals, of which we have but little evidence at 
present from Babylonia, and by the mythology. 

' This Babylonian doctrine of niediation is important for the comprehension of 
the several Logos doctrines ; compare the interpretation of Hommel in G.G.G., 115, 
and Winckler, F. , iii. 298 ff. Natiually a more profound meaning is given to the 
idea in the Bible. The personified Logos is the revealer of God, exactly in the 
sense of Nabu, the prophet or foreteller (of the new age, the deliverance). Gen. 
i. presents the idea in the " Word '' which creates light (comp. John i. i sei/. : " In 
the be^inning was the Logos, in him was Life, and the Life was the light of men "). 
Moses was a Nebo or prophet to the Israelitish religion (" Nebo" as mountain of 
death is treated of later) ; comp. Deut, xviii. 15 : " A nedi like unto me," etc. I 
think it not unlikely that in the Babylonian Samaria, for example, such reference 
was still current (comp. John iv. 14 : " Sir, I see that thou art irpocprirris " {iiebi), 
without article). The ancient Babylonian idea corresponds to Nebo as deliverer. 
We have here therefore an archaism, such as was a very favourite thing in the time 
of the Chaldean rulers (see p. 137). In the seon of the primeval world Mummu, 
son of Apsu and Tiamat, who creates the new world with Tiamat, corresponds to 
the son of Ea. We meet with him as early as in Damascius, who explains 
Ma.v;uis as vo-i]r}>s K6a-fj.os, the intelligible world ; also in the name of the Baby- 
lonian school of Science, ^zV Älmnmu, p. 7, and we shall find him again in the 
name given to Ea, Miiminu bau kaia, " the Former of all." 



THE CALENDAR FESTIVALS 91 



III. The Calendar Festivals 

New year was a spring festival m the Babylonian age. It 
was celebrated in the first days of the month Nisan, at the 
time of the spring equinox. In the pre-Babylonian age, for 
example, as festival of cultivation in the Gudea age, it was in 
autumn (feast of Nebo). In Babylonian histories of the 
Flood the new year already appears as festival of the new 
cycle, 

The hero of the feast (the Babylonian Zagmuk, that 
is, rcsh .ahaiti, beginning of the year or Akitu feast) is 
Marduk, '• Son of the Sun " in the Babylonian age. He 
has conquered winter, which appears as the water-dragon 
(corresponding to the victory over Kingii, that is, Tiamat) y 
in the beginning of the then present aeon. Therefore the 
festival falls at the equinox {shithuhi). The god celebrates 
his " procession '' on a wheeled ship {carnaval) and in the 
dwellings of Fate he pronounces his decisions for the new 
year. The ruling over Fate appears in the myth as a 
re^vard for the battle and victory over the power of dark- 
ness.^ The new year festival is closely connected with the 
niyth of creation. 

There is evidence from Assyrian tinies - of the dramatie celebra- 1 
tion of the victory over winter. Kingu (comp. fig. 26, p. 90), \ 
represented by a sheep, was burnt upon a chafing-dish. and during | 
the perforniance the " bard " recited, and expounded the actions 
which represented the driving away (bui'ning) of winter, by features 
of the myth of creation. The king played the part of Marduk 
(comp. p. .59). 

The Osiris games in Egypt had the same meaning ; see B.N.T., 
19 Gayet found in a woman's grave at Antinoe in Upper Egypt 
a marionette theatre shaped Hke a canoe made of wood and sheet 
copper upon which were represented scenes from the life of Osiris. 
We find further detail about such festival plays in the book by 

^ Compare now Zimmern, " Zum babylonischen Neujahrsfest," Kgl. Sacks. Ges. 
der IVissenschaßen, vol. viii., meeting of I2th December 1903 ; printed 1906. 

- K. 3476= C. T. XV. 44 and 43 ; see Monotheist. Strömungen, p. 24, according 
to H. Zimmern's communication, and now Zimmern, loc. cit. The text gives a 
significant example of our view, according to luhich the worship was based upon 
the myth and the myth upon the teaching. 



92 BABYLONIAN RELIGION 

Erman, Die ägyptische Religion,^ and in the publication by Schäfer, 
Die Mysterien des Osiris in Abijdos. From a stone in the Berlin 
Royal collection - ■\ve learn that a noble treasurer sent to Abydos 
by King Sesostris III. took part as priest in the feasts of Osiris as 
'' Lord of the Mysteries " : 

"I arranged the procession of Wep-wanaet^ when he went out 
to help his father (Osiris). 
I beat back those who pressed against the bärge of Nescheraet, 

and overthrew the enemies of Osiris. 
I arranged the ' great procession/ * and followed close upon 

the footsteps of the god. 
I started the vessel of the god and Toth .... the journey. 
I supplied the bärge named ' He (Osiris) appears in truth ' 
of the lord of Abydos with a cabin^ and fitted it out with its 
beautiful decorations^ so that he might resort to the states 
of Peker. 
I conducted the god on his Avay to his grave in Peker. 
I revenged Wenen-nofru (Osiris) in that day of the great 
combat and overthrew all his enemies in the water of Nedit. 
I placed him in the vessel {ivrf). It bore his beauty. 
I made glad the hearts of the dwellers in the East and brought 
joy to the dwellers in the West wheii they beheld the beauty 
of the bai'ge of Nescheniet. They landed in Abydos and 
brought Osiris, chief of the inhabitants of the West^ Lord 
of Abydos, to his palace." 
King Rameses IV. kindled a light at the grave of Osiris in 
Abydos on the day when they embalmed his mummy. Thus he 
prevented Set from stealing his members.^ He established his 
son Horus as his heir. And at the feast of Horus in Abydos the 
same king spat out his eye after it had been stolen by his van- 
quisher. He gave him the throne of his father and his inheritauce 
in the land. He established his word in the day of judgment. 
He permitted him to traverse Egypt and the Red Land as reprä- 
sentative of Har-achte. At another festival which was originally 
celebrated in Memphis, the feast of the erection of the Pillar of 

■^ Erman, i'oc. cit., repeatedly remaiks about the texts : "The meaning of them 
escapes us. " The key to them lies in the astral doctrine ; see essay " Der alte 
Orient und die ägyptische Religion " in IViss. Beilage ztun Lpzg. Ztg., 1905, n. 91. 
They deal with the contest between Upper and Underworld (battle of the Titans), 
and with the death, resurrection, and glorification of Osiris, who brings the new 
age, and who lives incarnate in the king. 

" Schäfer in Sethe's Ujitersiichungen, iv. 2, Lpz. , 1904. 

^ Represented as a jackal with a snake coiled at his feet. 

"* Compare the "procession" at the feast of Marduk, p. 91. Equinox or 
solstice ; at the summer solstice (that is, at the autumn equinox) Osiris dies, and 
then follows the dirge, described by Herodotus, ii. 61. The winter solstice (that 
is, the spring equinox) is ajubilee ; the end of the text informs us of this. 

'" Motif of dismembennent ; s&t B.N.7\, p. 121. 



THE CALENDAR FESTIVALS 98 

OsiriS;, a pillav Avas raised up by ropes tili it stood upright ; that 
typified Osivis whoni they raised so^ aftev having represented his 
burial the previous day.^ All sovts of mimicry took their rise out 
of this.2 Part of the crowd danced and sprang ; others feil lipon 
each other and one cried^ "I have caught Horus " ; others beat 
themselves with sticks and fists : they thus represented people of 
the two cities Pe and Dep^ from which Buto, the cid chief town, 
grew. And finally, four herds of oxen and asses were driven four 
times round the town. This feast was in later times joined on to 
another, the celebrated feast of Set, which had reference to the 
accession of the eai'thly monarch and to his jubilee, Avhich was 
celebrated for the fii'st time thirty years after his nomination as 
heir to the throne, and then was repeated every three years, In 
the material given by Erman we also find evidence in other places 
that the Egyptian theology found expression in calendar festivals, 
and in this form is identical with the '^- Babylonian " doctrine. 
Erman says, p. 61 : 

"There were, in fact, one or more chief festivals celebrated on 
certain days on which special events of the myths were supposed 
to have happened, such as the birth, or some great victory of the 
godj and they joined with these also the beginning of the diiferent 
seasons/ such as New Year's day, or the first day of the month." 
And of this the explanation is clear. The myth is the populär 
teaching which mirrors the gods' celestial actions. New Year's 
day is that upon which the god of the year always repeats his 
victoi-y. The first day of a month has the same signification in 
regard to the lunar course ; it is Hilal (see pp. 35 ff,). 

The corresponding celebrations of death and victory in the ciilts 
of Tammuz, Attis, and Baidur Avill be spoken of pp. 97 ff. and 
pp. 125 ff, 

The myths of victory over the five, or over the giants, in 
which intentional stress is laid upon the number 51/ show that 
in the myths and games they looked upon the Epagomenae (equal- 
isation of 360 and 365^ days) as representing the evil powers of 

^ Crucifixion of Osiris and resurrection festival. Compare the crucifixion of 
Attis in Julius Firmicus. 

- For the festivals, comp. Herodotus, ii. 59 sea. (and Wiedemann's com- 
mentaries on it). Herodotus says the return of "Ares " (very likely Horus) from 
Strange lands is represented there ; with his servants he fights his way to his 
mother, desiring to be united with her. This incest is the motif of renewal (p. 7), 
and motif of spring in the calendar festivals. The scenes of scourging therefore 
in this instance also typify the expulsion of winter. 

•''■ Memorial stone of I-cher-nofret, line 14 (Schäfer), 

■^ For example, the motifs in the stories of Goliath, who defied Israel forty days 
(Pleiades number), i Sam. xvii. , and w-ho was sixteen ells and one band high (instead 
of five and a quarter as may be gathered from the Variation in i Chr. xii, (11), 23), 
and the stories in the legends of Alexander of the giant Indian king who was 
over five ells high. Further examples are in E.r or. lux, ii. 2, p. 62, n. 41. 



94 BABYLONIAN RELIGION 

wintev ; ^ the Orion niotif in the Expulsion of the Tyrants shows the 
same idea in connection with the rising and setting of Orion (comp, 
p. 42, n. 1, ii.). But the Pleiades in pavticular represented the power 
of Winter. The "forty days" which precede the rising of the Pleiades 
in Taurus is the time of eqainoctial gales (see pp. 68, 110). The 
priestesses of the temple of Nebo solemnly passing over to the 
temple of Mardiik at the beginning of sunimer, and the reverse 
at the beginning of winter, expressed pantoniimically in the festival 
the change of the two halves of the year (comp. p. 29). 

In so far as concerns the death and resurrection of the god 
of the year, New Year's fe.stival is the feast of the Resurrection. 
It is therefore also called the feast of the Resurrection (tabu) 
of Marduk. It then forms the contrast to the death feast of 
the dying god of the year. Perhaps the designation of Marduk, 
" He who overthrows the Lofty House of the Shadow of Death," 
is in agreenient with this."- 

The conqueror of the power of winter i'eceived as reward 
the guidance of the workrs destiny, and therefore the spring 
festival of New Year was also the festival of Destiny^-'' and 
Marduk '\\'as mushim shimMe. At the feast of the Ne\\' Year 
the gods passed through Babylon and assembled in the Hall of 
Destiny (Daazag in the Ubshugina), and Nebo, originally I.ord 
of Destiny, became in the Babylonian age the scribe, and there 
they fixed the decrees of fate. The correspondingrepresentative 
action of the king, who appeared in the temple of Marduk 
on New Year's day ^'■to grasp the hands of Marduk,'' is attested 
by the Assyrian puru ahrur, '' I cast the lot " {?), where in the act 
of redemption the limn is certainly meant.^ A chief feature 

^ Comp. p. 42, n. I, ii., and p. 65. In Egypt there is evidence on the Pyramids 
of Pepi II. : " When the gods were born on the fifth Epagomene" ; comp. p. 31, 
n. 3. The Sakäen festival (Berossus in Athenaeus, Fragm. hist. gr., ii. 495) is the 
Tammuz festival of the solstice, not the spring New Year's festival. It lasted five 
days, therefore was Epagomene festival. The ^uiyavris (Zoganes) is Lord of 
Misrule. 

" -Sallutum K. 335I {B.A., V. 330). 

■^ There is a trace of this retained in the fateful dreams of Twelfth-night. 12 
is Epagomenen, like 5, when it is a question of equalisation of 354 and 366. The 
feast of the New Year is characterised by drinking, and the origin is the drinking 
bout of the gods after the victory over Tiamat, as it is described in the epic Enuma 
elish. Whether it is a question here of " intoxication " {egu) is not certain. 

•* Origin of the Purim feast; see Peiser, K.B. iv. 106, and comp. Winckler, 
F., ii. 334 f., and Zimmern, K.A. T., 3rd ed., 514 ff. 



THE CALENDAR FESTIVALS 95 

of the feast is the procession of Mardiik. Along the pro- 
cessional street, decorated on"6oth sides by figures of animals 
in brick reliefs (see figs. 28 and 58), the sacred sbip was carried 









iL 

ff 







ii-VitjlLi ] /o^ LJLJ/iJ^^. 



J^jÄl 



mi> 



f I''. ^o. — Bull {rennt) in brick relief. From the mtrados 
of the Ishtar Gate in Babylon. 

(upon wheels) in solemn procession. The following hymii relates 
to this : 1 

Avise^ set forth, O Bei, the king awaits thee ; 
arise, set forth, our Bebt, the king awaits thee. 
Bei of Babylon sets forth, the peoples bow before hini ; 
Tsai'panit sets forth, sweet herbs are kindled ; 
Tashmet sets forth, incense basins füll of cypress are kindled. 
Side by side with Ishtar of Babel (Tsarpanit), 
Upon flutes play the priests, the assinu and the fcugan/. 
Yea, they play. 

And the following song relates to the returning procession : - 

O Lord, at thine entrance to the house, 

thy house [rejoicesj [over thee] ; 

honoured Lord Marduk, . . . 

Rest, Lord, rest, Lord, thy house [rejoices over thee] ; 

Rest, Lord of Babylon, thy house [rejoices over thee]. 

Finally the festival of Marduk was considered as a icedding 

^ According to Zimmern, .-I.O., vii. 3, 9, K 9S76 (Bezold, Ca/., iii. 1046). 
- I^., p. 10; Weissbach, Miszellen, No. 13. 



96 BABYLONIAN RELIGION 

feast} It is said in one place of this festival : Ulis nna 
liäclashshMu, " He hasted to the bridal." - As far back as the 
time of Gudea New Year's feast was the weddins; feast of 
the god Ningirsu with Bau.^ Nothing is known of the wedding 
of Marduk with Tsarpanitu.'* 

Tiie celebration of the death of the god of the year, the 
fune ml feast of dying nature, corresponds to the feast of the 
Resurrection of Marduk. Up to the present it is not proved 
that such a funeral feast preceded that of new yea.v in Babylon, 
unless one takes the record of Herodotus of the " Grave of 
Bei," which bears the sanie resemblance to it as the " Grave 
of Osiris," '" and the green-bedecked grave of Malkat-Ishtar in 
Sippar.*' One knows from the above clearly proved doctrine 
that the corresponding funeral feast was celebrated in autunm 
(according to solar reckoning), but also three days before the 
Resurrection feast according to lunar reckoning (comp, 
pp. 35 ff.). 

The festivals of death and resurrection in autumn and spring 
correspond to the quarters of the year." When divided into 
two they celebrated the 

Feast of the Solstices 

The winter solstice is then the birthday of the god of the 
year {dies solis invicta in the Roman calendar), and the sunnner 
solstice the festival of the death of Tammuz, which is brought 
about by a boar, the beast of Ninib-Mars, to whom the sun 

1 Upon the astral mythological connection of the wedding motif with the new 
age, comp. pp. 35 ff., 87, and see also B.JV. T., 45. 

^ Reisner, Hymnen No. VIII. ; see Zimmern, K.A.T., 3rd ed., 371. 

■* Gudea C, ii. 1-7 ; see Zimmern, as above. 

•* Wife of Marduk, identical with Ishtar, see Dt. 109, A.B., v. 375 f. ; comp. 
P- 95- 

5 Herod., i. 183 ; Herod., ii. 170 f. ; Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, 359; setB.N.T., 
i.x. 19, and the works quoted there. Upon the grave of Set see Chwolsohn, 
Ssabier, ii. 617. According to the Nabatcean writings of El Asojuthi the Copts held 
the two great Pyramids to be the graves of kings ; the Mandseans held them to be 
the graves of Set and of Hermes, and sacrificed there. 

6 Code of Hammurabi, ii. 26 seq. The myth of Venus sunk into the depths 
has, however, nothing to do with the New Year, see p. 121. 

' Plutarch, Isis and Osiris, chap. Ixix : the Phrygians celebrated a festival 
in autumn, when Attis falls asleep, and another in spring, when he awakes. 



THE CALENDAR FESTIVALS 



97 




Fig. 29.— Greek sarcophagus representing the larewell and death and the 
lanientation for Adonis. After Roschei-, Lex. d. Myth , s.v. Adonis. 

point of the .solar orbit then belongs. The Boar motif is 

old,i the VIth tablet of the Gilgame.sh epic ah-eady recording 

the tear.s of Ishtar 

(mother-goddess, and 

at the same tinie de- 

stroying wife) shed 

eveiy year for Taiii- 

niuz, and the motif 

niust have been takeu 

froui a still older age. 

Evidence is given of 
the funeral feast itself 
in Babylon by sonie 
hymns on the journev 
to hell of 'l.shtar 
which \\'ill be nien- 
tioned later, and 
which certainlv were 
recited at the festival : 




PiG. 30. — Little garden of Adonis, with phallus. 
Fresco in l'ompeii. After Aiina/fs die A/usJe 
Guiiiiet, xvi. (Veliay). 



Sheplierd, Lord, Tnmmuz, luisband of Ishtar, 

Lord of the kinodom of death, Lord of tlie water realm, 

1^ Stucken, Astrabnytheii, iS seq. The month of Tamnuiz belongs to Ninib 
(I"^- l-^- 33. No. 2, 6), and the ibex {humsint) is sacred to him. According to a 
Syrian tradition Tammuz is a hicnier ^nd poacker ; see Stucken, Astral iny then, 
p. 89. Variations on this are the Hon (zodiacal sign of the summer solstice in the 
age of Taurus, as in Hygin ; see Winckler, Krit. Schriften, iii. 108, and Landau, 
Beitr., iv. 24 seq.)z.x\A the bear (corresponding to the constellation of the Bear 
at the north point of the heavens, looked upon by the Arabs as the hier, that is, 
as the death-place of the dying god of the year) ; comp. Stucken, as above, 34 
seq., and see fig. 31. 

VOL. I, 17 



98 BABYLONIAN RELIGION 

A Tamarind which drank no water in the furroAV, 
Whose brauch brought forth no blossem in the wilderness, 
A little tree, not planted in its water channel, 
A httle tree, torn up by the roots.^ 

Another song' is clearly a dirge of the day when Tammuz 
feil, in great tribulation (suuimer solstice), in the nionth which 
cut Short the year of his life : " Shamash [here = Ninib], let 
him sink into the Underworld, since it is all over with mankind" ; 
or, as the writer of the tablet adds resignedly, " The children of 
men are brought to rest." The end of the journey to hell of 
V- Ishtar gives evidence of such a funeral and resurrection festival. 
We are more accurately informed about the festival celebra- 
tions in the worship of Ba'alat of Byblos, and later by the 
pseudo-Lucian, de Dea Syra, and in Asia Minor and Rome 
bv the records of the Cybele-Attis festival, but abovo all in 
the letters of the astronomer Firniicus Maternus to the sons of 
Constantine upon the errors of heathen religions/^ The rock- 
reliefs of el-Ghine in Lebanon, in the district of the river of 
Adonis (nähr Ibrahim), \s'hich represent the Tammuz myth 
(fiö-. 31 ), will be spoken of later. The festival seems to have 
been a favourite one with the Jeics, particularly in the times 
when they feared " Yahveh hath forsaken the land" (Ezek. ix. 9), 
and they looked elsewhere for comfort. In Ezek. viii. 14 the 
women weep for Tammuz at the gate of the city (the Opposition 
is the festival of resurrection). 

The festival of the Queen of Heaven, which according to 
Jer. xliv. 17 ff', was in all ages celebrated in Israel, is identical 

^ IV. R, 27; comp. "Hölle u. Paradies," A.O., i. 3-, 10, and see now also 
Zimmern, vii. 3, 10 seq. Compare the little gardens of Adonis, /cfJTroi 'AScüi/iSos, 
whose flowers without roots, or sown in shallow earth and exposed to the sun, 
quickly fade. Fig. 30 represents such an Adonis garden from a Pompeian 
wall picture. In the Anthosphoria the return of Persephone was celebrated with 
flute-playing and by maidens with baskets of flowers. 

^ See "PlüUe und Paradies," A.O., i. 3-. Some new songs to Tammuz have 
been found in Nippur ; see Radau in the Aiiniversary Vohiiiie by Hilprecht. 

^ For further detail on the Babylonian, Phoenician, and Phrygian-Lydian forms 
of worship, see pp. 125 ff. In the valuable work by Hepding, Attis seine Mythen 
u. sein Kuli, the coherence with the System is not recognised, otherwise the 
author would not, for example, find it possible to separate the worship of the 
great Mother from that of Attis (p. 12 seq.) ; also the relationship to correspond- 
ing Greek culls is undervalued. 



THE CALENDAR FESTIVALS 



99 



with this death and resurrection festival ; ^ it is the feast Avhen 
(Jer. vii. 18 ; comp. xliv. ff.) fire was kindled by the youths 
(soLsfcice festival) and cakes baked for the Queen of Heaven ; 
comp, also 3 Macc. vi. 32. The lamentations of Jephthah are 




FUt. 31. — Dcalh of Tamnuiz by the bear (comp. p. y/, n. i ; .mJ lamentalion for 
Tammuz. Rock-rclicf at Lebanon. After Landau, Bcitr., iv. ; comp. 
Renan, Expedition eii P/u'iiicic, fig. 36. 



treated in the manner of the same myth ; see upon the Book of 
Judges, p. 168, ii. When Josiah came to his tragic end they 
mourned for him, according to Zech. xii. 11 (comp. 2 Chr. xxxv. 
25), with Adad-Rimmon, i.e. Tanmmz songs, which perhaps at 

^ In the myth of physical life Tammuz is the dying and then germinating 
5eed ; see B. N.T. , 23 sey. " Because the bones of Tammuz have been ground 
in the mill, at certain times the Mandreans might not eat anything ground " 
(Chwolsohn, ii. 204). Baking of cakes in the festivities was the antithesis. 



100 BABYLONIAN RELIGION 

the same time promised the hope of his return. ^ The chronicler 

of the history of Joseph lets a strain of the Taninmz niotif 

appear in the story of the populär hero siiikiiig into inisfortune 

and rising again to be benefactor of his people ; see chapter on 

Joseph's history. 

What appears in the stories of Joseph^ etc., to be a poetic adapta- 
tion of niythological motifs, becomes a relapse into heathenisni 
in the Jewish Tammuz cult so much blamed by Ezekiel and 
Jeremiah. The dividing hne is a navrow one, and we may see in 
our own day how Geniian hymns to Wotan niay refer back to 
worship of the summei- solstice. Bat with Israel another point 
comes into qiiestion. Perhaps nowiiere more plainly than here can 
we see tlie close relationship of the Isvaelitish and also the Christian 
religion with tlie Aneient-Oriental mystical wisdom^ and at the 
same time how far above it they stand^ in tliat they confer new 
meaning upon these parables from nature. Tiie passages in the 
Prophets of intensest expectation of the Redeemer^ especially Isa. 
liii. of the reawakening of the Lanib sunk in denth. are closely 
related to the motifs ot the d3'ing and returning to life of the 
god of the year, and the Apocalyjjse makes use of the same motifs 
for the glorification of the victorious Christ, as we have endeavoured 
to show in B N.T., 13 W. 

The Panthkon 

The Babylonian Pantheon appears to a superficial \'ie\v to be 
an inextricable tangle of gods and denions, but the theory of 
the universe as described above offers a euidino; thread through 
the labyrinth. Each divinity correspouds either to an astral 
phenonienon or to some circunistance or occurrence in nature 
which is connected with the course of the stars. The divine 
forces ruling in nature appear in it in human form ; for as, 
according to the Aneient-Oriental conception, man is made in 
the image of God, so their conception of the divinity must of 
necessity be anthropoinorphic.^ There is no question in the 
Aneient-Oriental world, as known to history, of the lower con- 
ception which finds godhead itself in the animal world, or in 

' As in Ej^ypt they said to the mummy : " Thou art Osiris," /.e. " Thou shalt 
live again," so here the equivalent is "Thou art Tammuz." According to 
Pausanias, vi. 23, i, the same ceremony was observed by women at the grave of 
Achilles in Elis. 

" In the myth of the bird Zu, the bird purposes stealing the Table.s of Dei-tiny, 
and he waits tili the dawn of day, tili Bei has bathed him.self in pure water, and 
ascended his throne and placed the crown upon his head. 



THE PANTHEON 101 

plants and trees (totemism and fetishism). When the gods 

appear as animals in Egypt (as in Mexico) we see a correspond- 

ence to the Babylonian representations where the gods stand 

lipon animals (see, for example, figs. 7 and 43). This may be 

taken as evidence of, tliough it does not prove, a prehistoric stage 

of worship absorbed by the '^ teaching." We take the animals 

to be the image of the zodiacal figures in which the divine 

powers revealed themselves.^ 

In ancient Babylonia we find sacred cities, and the place of 

worship on earth has its corresponding place in heaven ; see pp. 

57 f. and 62. Every religion is in truth a universal religion 

reflecting the cosmos or the cycle, but inasmuch as the part and 

the whole correspond, so gioups of sacred cities reflect the whole 

celestial picture.' The king is shar l:alaina^ shar Jcishati, 

shar JiibTat arba^hn, therefore lord of the universe. Each 

individual district is a cosmos. 

The oldest state we know was the South Babylonian Siimer 
(probably identical with Kingi). The towns comprised by this 
State '^ early lost their political Status, like Ur in historical times, 
if indeed they ever possessed any (Eridu, Nippur). But their 
religious status was never forgotten. These chief places are : 

Ercch with the temple of Anu (E-Ana) and of Ishtar. 

Nippur : Bei. 

Erich/ : Ea. 

Ur: Sin. 

Larsa : Shamash. 

Lagash : Ningirsu and Nina (Ishtar). 

One sees that in these five chief towns of Sumer the two principal 
triads are successively represented.'^ 

The next oldest political structure that we know is the North 
Babylonian Akkacl. Before this came into being there must have 

^ How it came about that the heavens were mappcd out in pictuies of animals 
is a prehistoric question. We can only establish the phenomena Upon so- 
called totemism, compare Ifn Kampf um den alten Orient, i. i. 

■■^ Whether in this case the already existing divinities of the System of the 
universe were divided amongst the chief places of the states in the sense de- 
scribed on p. 54, or whether, as is more likely, the chief places of worship with 
their divinities influenced the formation of the System, can naturally, in the dim- 
ness of ancient history, not be finally decided. 

^ We can speak positively of a state of Sumer as early as the time of 
Lugalzaggisi. 

^ Lagash with Ninib-worship played a part for a very brief period in the Gudea 
age. 



102 BABYLONIAN RELIGION 

beeil great political upheavals of wliich we knoAv nothing. This is 
sliown by the vanished eitles spoken of, fov example, in the temple 
lists of Telloli, and by the mysterious disappearance of Borsippa, 
sister city of Babylon, which with its Nebo-worship must have 
surpassed Babylon in former times. The ascendancy of Akkad 
possibly arose through the first Semitic inigration. Unfovtunately 
thei-e have been few excavations in this area as yet ; the most 
important being those of Sippav. It seenis that here too the places 
of worship mirroi- the astral System, and even the System of the 
planetary divinities. 

? .■ Sin. 

Sippar : Shamash. 

Akkad : Ishtar. 

Babel : Marduk-Jupiter. 
Borsippa : Nebo-Mercury. 

Kidha : Nergal-Saturn. 

Kü-h (?) Harsagkalama : Ninib-Mars (Zamama).^ 

It is remarkable that Sin is missing. 

Perhaps the Mesopotamian districts with lunar-worship (Harran) 
may have been included here. The worship of the Moon-god in 
Haran and in Ur repeatedly appears connected. 

In North Babylonia there is as yet no certain evidence of any 
place of worship of Ninib, partner of Nergal (in South Babylonia 
he predominates in Nijipur). In the North Babylonian places of 
worship as yet known to ns, we find of the principal divine triad, 
only Ann, god of Durilu, boundarv fortress towards Elam (see p. 

103 5e(/.). 

An entirely new period of Babylonian theology is introduced 
Avith the " exaltation of Marduk " under the Hammurabi dynasty. 
Babylon became nietropolis of the united Babylonian kingdom and 
at the same time the intellectual centre of the Avhole of Western 
Asia, and the synchronous figure of Marduk of Babylon, placed in 
relationship to all the chief gods and cults and so glorified, gives 
the religious countei-part to this political fact. 

We will now give briefly sonie characteristics of the chief 
figures of the Babylonian Pantheon, especially in their relation- 
ship to the astral sy.stem. 

Anu 

Anu i.s the fcither, or king, in the faniily of gods {(thii shar 
ilänl)^ and in a special sense suminn.s dcus. In the legeiids of 
Zu, for instance, he speaks to the "gods, bis children.'' The 
opening of the epic Enunia elisb describes the assenibly of the 

^ There was a aancUiary of Ninib in Babylon also ; see H. C. , ü. 56 ff. 



THE PANTHEON— ANU 103 

gocls as a faniily gathering, uhere the father, who is here not 
Anu, but Anshar, an older (before this universe) emanation of 
the godhead, sonieho\v abdicates the governnient to his wisest 
^on (Marduk). 

Anir.s dignity \\-as also recognised in the places where the 
god of the citj was held to be king of the gods, and so 
Hannnumbi says in the introduction to his collection of laws : 

- When Anu.i the SubHme, king of the Anunnaki, and Inlil 
ot H aven and Earth, who determine the fate of nations, had 
given the ordship over mankind upon earth to Marduk. victorious 
son of Ea/ etc. 

The seat of Anu (An = " heaven ") is the north heaven. His 
throne is at the celestial North Pole, from whence he rises, as, 
for example, in the myth of Adapa.- 

By the law of analogy the north point of the world also 
belonged to him, and therefore he appears in the System as Sin 
and Ninib.3 When on the VIth table of the epic of Gilgamesh 
Ishtar ascends in anger to the heaven of Anu, and when the 
gods in fear of the flood climb " up to the heaven of Anu" and 
crouch under the J^mati (this is probably the wall of the 
topmost stage of steps leading up into the zodiac), we may take 
it to mean an ascent by the zodiac* 

The Canaanite designation of this chief divinity is iln (i e h^) 
for example, in Dur-ihi the City of Anu. and from this come the 
Hebrew names for god, ^^, nN^X, D^n^X. The word certainly does 
not mean the "aim" (''goal"), Katcvochen, as Delitzsch, B.B.I., 
1 ^^ Lagarde, takes it ; we agree mach more with Zimmern 
that "11," Hke "An," are designations of the celestial North Pole ; 
See p. 50, n. 1, and Monotheistischen Strömungen, p. ip.^ 

The sign a;^ should probably originally be read z///, z.e. " Canaanite " e/; but 

this 2//,'-£/ corresponds to the Babylonian Ann ; see below, Uii rabu of Der = Anu, 

- The populär presentment in Israel is the same ; comp. Isa. xl. 22 : God 

enthroned upon the hug of the earth, the inhabitants whereof appear as grass- 

hoppers. 

For this mythological identification see pp. 30 and loS, and for the Mountain 
of God in the North see Ps. xlviii. 3. where "north" undoubtedly belongs to 
"niountain," and Job. xxxvii. 22. 

In the twilight of the gods of northern mythology the gods ascei d by the 
seven steps of the rainbow, corresponding to the zodiac ; see Gen. ix. 13. Jacob 
sees in his dream the steps which lead to the palace of God ; see Gen. xxviii. 

' It is not certain whether the nanie of the god of the Sepharvites (Anammelech, 
170JV, 2 Knigs xvii 31), contains the name of ihe god Anu ; see the passages cited 
above. 



104 BABYLONIAN RELIGION 

In South Babylonia we know of Erech, " dwelling-place of 
Ana and Lshtar,'" mentioned in the so called legends of 
Dibarra (temple of E-ana) and in North Babylonia of Dunlu = 
Der,^ as places of worship of Ann. 

Inlil 

In-lil,'^ who is also called by his epithet Bei, that is, 
" Lord '' in the Superlative sense, is " Lord of Lands," i.e. of 
the earth, of the Celestial Earth, that is, of the zodiac, as well 
as of the Terrestrial Earth. ^ In the latter as in the fonner 
sense he is called shadu rahu., for the celestial as well as the 
terrestrial kingdoni is thought of as a mountain {harsag-kurkiira), 
or hei iJiatdti, " Lord of Lands " (namely, of the celestial as 
of the terrestrial inhabited lands in contradistinction to air 
and sea).^ 

His special place of worship was Nippur in South Babylonia, 
in the temple of E-kur.^ This E-kur corresponds to the cosmic 
seat of the divinity, which this Babvlonian Olympus represents. 

Ea 

Ea, or reversed, A-e CAo? in Damascius), " Sumerian " En-ki. 
The name E-a expresses his relation to water, and En-ki 
perhaps his (indirect) relation to the Underworld ; see p. 14. 
As complement to Anu and Inlil he is Lord of Apsu, the 

^ Nebuchadnezzar I. calls Der "the City of x\nu " (A". i9.. iii. i. 165), and in the 
Lists of Eponyms for 834, 815, and 7S6 (A'. T., 2nd ed., 76), it is said : z7// radi1, 
the great god, journeyed forth from Der. 

- VVe do not know what the name means. If Hommers explanation, "Lord 
of the Air," is correct, still Bei is not by any means Lord of the Air in Opposition 
to En-ki as "Lord of the Earth"; see p. 104. Zimmern's deductions {K.A.T., 
3rd ed., p. 355) combine in a not very happy way the theories set up by Hommel, 
Jensen, and Winckler. Especially it is not correct that a great deal of the Bel- 
worship in Nippur was transferred to Marduk. That In-lil was so pronounced 
and therefore was not only an ideogram, is shown by the translation "iWivos in 
Damascins ; in old epic texts from the Hammurabi age {CT., xv. 1-6) he is 
called Lillu and Lellu ; comp. IV. R. 27, 56 f 

^ Comp. Sintflut, 36 ff. : " Since Bei hates me, I will tarry no longer upon 
Bel's earth {kakkat-); into the ocean will I descend, to dwell with Ea, my Lord." 

•* As "Lord of Lands," that is, of the zodiac, he also possesses occasionally 
the Tables of Fate ; see p. 50. 

'^ Comp. Hilprecht, Die Ans^q-raöiiiigcii im Bcl-Tcnipcl von Nippur. 



THE PANTHEON— EA 



105 




:'-—■■' - -^?^'^W ^ 



Celestial Ocean, as well as of the terrestrial ocean which sui-- 

rounds and flows underneath the earth. Apsu itself is there- 

fore indicated as ZU-AB, " House of AVisdom," for out of it 

the u'isdom of Ea rises.^ As the creator god froni whose 

kingdom the present seon of the world arose 

(see p. 8), he also was " Father of the 

Gods/' " His special place of worship is 

Eridu,^ i.e. Abu Shahrein, south (!) of Ur. 

The temple in Eridu was called E-apsu, 

" House of the Ocean." From the regula- 

tions for worship, in which the water " at 

the mouth of the streams '' plays a great 

part, one niay gather that in primeval tinies 

Eridu was upon the sea coast and that the 

Euphrates and Tigris flowed there separately 

into the Persian Gulf. In descriptions of 

the sanctuary in religious texts it is neces- 

sary to distinguish in every case whether it 

is speaking of the earthly Eridu or of the 

T 1 ,• 1 , r -Cy Fig. t.2. — Kelief repre- 

correspondnig celestial sanctuary oi Ea. senting Ea- «Cannes, 

Eridanos in the southern firmament was 

somehow connected with Eridu. The temple 

at Eridu was called Esagila (see K.T., 99), as was later the 

temple of Marduk of Babylon. 

We nieet with Ea as the god of Wisdoni and Science, as 

protector of artisans, and as law-giver.'^ He is especially the 

Lord of all magic arts : " The great Lord Ea has sent me, he 

has placed his spell upon my mouth."" 

His worship is invariably connected with the idea of holy 
water. In a text of worship V. R. 51 the priest, clad in a 
" gavment of linen from Eridu/' proceeds to meet the king on 

^ Pp. 6 f., 47 f. On Ea = Oannes (fig. 32), see pp. 47 f. 

- King, No. 12. 

^ In Shurippak and Girsu, the place of worship of Nin-Girsu, and in 
Erech also there were special sancluaries of Ea. Dungi guards the religion 
of Eridu. 

■* Compare the goat mask of the Juno Cuvitis or Sospita in Gerhard's Atlas 
zu Gesain/n. Akad. Abhandlungen, lablet 36, No. 4. The feather coat is also 
found amongst the most ancient figures in Telloh. 

■' P. 4S. 



from Nimrud-Kalach. 
The fish is a maslc* 



106 



BABYLON lAN RELIGION 



the threshold of the " Hoiise of Cleansing/' and greets him with 
the Speech : 

" May Ea rejoice over thee, 
May Damkina. Queen of the Deep Waters^ enhghten thee 

with her coiintenance, 
May Marduk_, the great overseer of the Igigi, raise up thy 

head." ^ 

We have already spoken (p. 9) of Ea as ihi amelii, Divine 

man, and of Marduk-Adapa as 
the son of the Divine man. As 
the souiTC of all generation he is 
Ea sha nabnlti or Mummu hän 
häla, the all-forming Mummu."' 
The "Seed of Mankind " {zer 
ameliiü) created by Ea in Eridu, 
who in heroic presentation is 
called Adapa, appears in the 
genealogy of the gods as MarduA:, 
son qf Ea^' and as such he is 
Lord of the New World. Myth- 
ology expresses this in making all 
the other gods lay their power in 
his hands, and Ea says : "Thou 
shalt be called by my name of 
Ea.'' Therefore in the account 
of the Creation quoted in Chap. 
III. he is Demiurgos, and in the 
texts of exorcism, Helper and 
Forgiver of sins, who heals all 
ills and who loves " to awaken 




Fig. 33. — The god Marduk in astral 
garmenl (comp. 190, ii. note) as 
Dragon-slayer(lapis-lazuli). Found 
in Babylon. 



the dead." In IV. R. 17«, 38-42, it says : 



' Note the accord wilh the blessing of Aaron in Numh. vi. 24 seq. 

' Comp. p,.. 6 sci]., 90, n. i. 

■' See Marduk in Roscher's Lexicon der Mythologie, ii. sp. 2340 seq., in which, 
however, I had not yet clearly recognised the original independence of Marduk 
of Eridu as opposed to Marduk of Babylon. And Hehn also, who has lately 
written exhaustively upon Marduk ("Hymnen und Gebete an Marduk," A.B., v. 
279 seq.), has not recognised the dilTerence. Upon the setting of Marduk in the 
place of Nebo, the " prophet" of the new age, see pp. 74, 91. 



THE PANTHEON— EA 107 

For his son's sake the God-man ^ serves thee in humility, 

The Lord hath sent me^ 

The great Lord Ea hath sent me." - 

In the exorcisuis father and son carr)' on a dialogue in which 
the sanie wisdom and power is ascribed to the son as to the 
father. Some of the texts are translated here in illustration : 

Exorcisvt. An evil curse has fallen like a demon upon a man, 
raisery and pain have fallen upon him, 
unholy misery has fallen upon him, 
an evil curse, ban, plague ! 
The evil curse has slain that man like a lamb, 
his god departed from Ins body, 
his guardian goddess stood aside, 
misery and pain enveloped him as in a garment, and 

overpowered him. 
Then Marduk saw him, 

he entered the house to his father Ea and spoke : 
My iather ! An evil curse has fallen, like a demon, 

upon a man. 
He told it him the second time. 
I know not vvhat has happened to that man and how he 

may be cur ed. 

Ea answered his son Marduk : 

My son ! What linowest thou not, what more can I teil 

thee ? 
Marduk ! What knowest thou not, what more can I teil 

thee ; 
What I know, that thou also knowest. 
ßut go hence, my son Marduk ! 
Bring him to the house of holy sprinkHng, 
break his ban, loose his ban ! ^ 
The tormenting ills of his body, 
whether a curse of his fother, 
or a curse of his mother, 
or a curse of his eider brother 
or a curse of the murderess, unknown to the man, 

1 May also be called " ihe God of Man." 

2 See Winckler, F., iii. 299, and above, pp. 9 and 47. Compare with these 4 
Esr. xiü. 25 f. (Kautzsch, Pscudepi'g., 396) : ^'When thou hast beheld a man rise 
from the heart of the sea, that is he through whom he will deliver creation." 
According to the Enuma elish, Vllth table, Marduk the dragon-slayer has 
" created mankind, to deliver them " ; see pp. 185 f. 

3 The na/ne of the great gods served as a special exorcism. This is to be noted 
in explanation of the religious veneration of the " Name'' ; see B.A\ T., 104 secj. 



108 BABYLONIAN RELIGION 

through the exorcism of Ea the ban is 
like an onion peeled^ 
like a date cut off, 
like a palm panicle broken off I 

Ban ! ßy heaven be thou exorcised, by the earth be 
thou exorcised ! 

In another text of the Shurpu serie.s it says : 

Thou shalt heal ^ the sick, 
thou shalt raise the fallen, 
thou shalt help the weak, 
thou shalt [change] evil fortune — and so on. 

In one place it is said of hini : '^ 

Wise one, first born of Ea, creator of the race of man^ 
Yea^ thou art the Lord^ like father and inother ^ to 

mankind (?) art thou, 
Yea^ thoU;, like the son-god lightenest thou their darkness I 

Another time it says : ^ 

His anger is as a flood, his reconciliation like a merciful ftither. 

It is c[uite clear from the hymns that the wovship of Marduk 
of Eridu agreed with his solar chavacter. The work of the son 
of Ea reveals itself in the early sun and in the spring sun, 
which rises daily and yearly out of the ocean and brings new 
life. His character as God, revealing his work in the planet 
Jupiter, appears to have been first placed foremost in the wor- 
ship at Babylon, as the connection with Nebo (Mercury) of 
Borsippa and Mergal (Saturn) of Kutha shoMs. 

For Marduk of Babylon, see pp. 134 ff. 

Sin 
Sin or Nannar,-' " Sunierian " En-zu, is the Lunar-god. 
Within the triad, which represents the revelation of the 

•* Btilhitit, " to malce alive " ; compare further the Jewish figureof speech, John 
iv. 50 : '' thy son liveth," i.e. he is cured. 

" King, Babyloniaii Magic, No. 12. 

•" In the preceding texts from the colieclion by King, which, hovvever, seem 
to refer to Marduk of Babylon, it is said : '' May thy heait rejoice as that of the 
father who begat nie, and as that of the mother who bore me." 

■^ King, Babylonian Magic, No 11. 

^ Writteii with the same ideogram as the city Ur (may it be a play upon iinit, 
"light"?). Nannar is " the Illuminator" ; see Zimmern, K.A.T., 3rd ed., 362. 
In the Ishtar hymnal, translated by King in his Seven Tahleis, Ishtar is called Nan- 
tiarat shamc 11 irfsifirii, " the Illuminator of Heaven and Earth." 



THE PANTHEON -SIN 



109 



deity in the phenomena of heaven (calendar), he is " Father of 
the Güds,"^ like Anu in the cosmic triad. In the hymn IV. 



V "!!' 



^€;l; 



i: 

Fio. 



JE'' 















% 



34. — Sin as the New Moon and Venus-Ishtar (wiih the 
" Moming Star!" comp. fig. 43). Babylonian seal 
cvl Inder : original in Rome." 





FlG. 35.— Supplicants led to the Moon-god. Anclent-Babylonian seal 
cylinder, from Menant, Glyptique, i., pl. iv., 2. 

R. 9, he is called Anu ; for the cosmos corresponds to the cycle, 
according to the Babylonian teaching space is = time. In rela- 

^ The naniing of Sin htirit, '^bull," refers to the horns of the bull, wliich recall 
the horns of the crescent moon. In K. 100, Obv. 7, Sin is called '"Bearer of 
Powerful Horns " ; See also p. 1 13. In the Mithra cult Luna appears upon a biga 
drawn by white bulls. Cumont in Die Mysterien des Mithra, 89, explains the 
bulls by the moon's signlfication of growth ; this corresponds with the old dis- 
carded view. Every god may be the bull {biiru), and evevy goddess the cow, in 
so far as ihey bear lunar character. 

- The first symbolic sign to the right of the figure bearing ihc Morning Star is 
the Symbol of Marduk (repeated three times), to the right of it a curved serpent. 




110 BABYLONIAN RELIGION 

tion to the sun, the moon bear.s the Overworld character, the 
character of life and of resurrection in Babylonian teaching. 
For when the füll nioon is at his culminating point, the sun, 
in Opposition in the winter solstice, has arrived at the lowest 
point. In his own appearance also the moon bears the character 
of life. He is inhu sha Ina rammanishu ihhanu sh/ha^ " fruit 
which from itself reproduces itself and continues."' Therefore 
he is also one of the bearers of the " expected dehverer'' 
thought. His symbolic colour is green (see p. 65). The sun 

in Opposition to hini bears the 
Underw'orld character, repi'esent- 
ing death, for in his presence 
the stars disappear. The learned 
Babylonian also knew that the 
nionthly darkening of the moon 
is caused by the sun, as may be 
gathered from the cosmic myth- 
ological text reproduced on p. 

FlG 36. -Halt -moon and band ]||i j^^ Egypt, knd of the 
(Venus), sacred symbul amongst the _ _ »^ i ' 

Arabs (band of Fatnie) Amuiet sun, this is reversed : Osiris-moon 

in autbor's possession. Acquired • tt j ^ -\ i j.i 

in Tunis ^^ underworlct, and the sun is 

Overworld divinity. As the god 
of resurrection the colour green is given to Sin.- Of the pliases, 
naturally most stress is laid upon the new moon. It is greeted 
everywhere throughout the East with jubilation as the crescent 
szvord which has conquered the dragon." Special importance 
is given, as we have seen, to the spring new moon ^ (see pp. 36 ff.) 
as ushering in the spring füll moon. The spring equinox pre- 

^ Compare also the Symbols of moon, sun, and Isbtar on the boundaiy stone 
from Susa, No. 20 (see article on Sbamasb in Roscher's Lexikon der Mythologie, 
sp. 535 f.), wbere the new moon and the sun ave designated by c;/t,' symbol as 
the dark moon. 

" IV. R.G., 23a ; see p. 30. 

■* Arabic, Hilal ; probably tbis is the origin of the hallelu-(jah), as was first con- 
jectured by de Lagarde. Compare the astronomical picture, fig. 15. Isa. xxvii. i 
is the sickle sword moon-motif. 

•* The new moon and Venus form the sacred symbol of the Arabs. As among 
the members of the body the band corresponds to Venus (see Hommel, G.G.G., 
p. loi), we find in the Mohammedan sacred symbol reproduced (fig. 36) the band 
used in place of the star of Venus The Moslems, however, call it the "band of 
Mohammed." 



THE PANTHEON— SIN m 

cedes the forty clays of equinoctial .storui.i They are the clays 
during wliich the Pleiades (in the age of Taiirus, therefore after 
the begiiining of spring) vanish in the hght of the sun, and are 
therefore taken to be seven evil spirits, powers of Nero-aL We 
possess a niythological text which describes the conflict and 
victory : 

The Bahijhnian Myth of the Darl- Moon and 
his Rcscue from the ''Seven EvU Spirits'"" 

(The beginning is missing. It may be gathered from line thi.ty-two that to 
Bei, Lord of the Zodiac, Information is brought of the siege of the moon by the 
seven evil spirits.) ^ 

Storms bursting forth/ evil s]Mrits are they, 

pitiless demons, generated upon the Celestial bar (Zodiac) ; ^ 

These are they which bring illness, 

causing evil to press into tlie head (of men), daily evil 

The first of the Seven is in the [horribler] tempest, 

the second is a dragon, of whose [great ?J open moutli 

no [. . . .] ; 
the third is a panther with uionstrous throat [. . . .] ; 
the foui-th is a terrible ser))ent [....]; 
the fifth is a raging ah-hu, from whoin there is no escaiie bv 

flight(?); ' ■ ■ ■ 

the sixth is a [. . . .] breaking loose, wlio God and 

King [....]; 
the seventh is the evil rain-storm, who [. . . .1. 
There ai-e seven, messengers of Ann, theii- hing. 
From place to place they bring darkness, 
Typhoon furiously raging over the heavens are they, 
Thick cloiids, making dark the heavens, are they, 
Violent approach of the bursting winds are they, 
Causing darkness in the clear day ; 
With storms, with evil winds, they rage aroimd. 
Rain of Ramman (Adad), a mighty devastation are they ; 
At the right band of Ramman they go about, 
to the dee])s of heaven like lightning [. . . .], 
they come hither to accomplish destruction : 

' They represent winter, like the Epagonien£e at the end of the year ; comp, 
p. 93. They are held to last forty days {'arabain in Syria to the present day) or 
fifty days {ha/nsin). See upon this A.B.A., 2nd ed., pp. 87 f 

" Taken to be a recitation in the exorcism text, IV. R. 5. Compare the 
interpretationgiven by Winckler, F., iii. 5S ff., and " llimmelsbild u. Weltenbild," 
A.O., iii. 2-3-, 65 ff. A. Jeremias, article on Ramman in Roscher's Lexi'koii 
der Älythologic. Evidence from this important astral-mythological text has already 
been used by us in several places. 

■^ See ahove, n. i. 4 Sliupnk shavic. 



112 BABYLONIAN RELIGION 

They stand hostile to the wide heaven^ the dwelling of the 

King Ana, and there is none who opposes them. 
When Bei veceived this message, he weighed the matter in 

his heart, 
and took counsel with Ea the subhme massu of the gods. 
They placed Sin, Shaniash, and Ishtar to rule over the celestial 

'bar,i 
he divided the government of the Avhole heavens between 

them and Ann, 
the three gods, his children ; 

night and day, without ceasing, they were to serve there. 
Now when the Seven, the evil gods, stormed in upon the 

celestial bar, 
they besieged Sin who lights, 
they made allies of the hero Shamasli (the Sun) and of the 

strong Ramman, 
whilst Ishtar won her glorious dwelling-place with Anu and 

strove to become Queen of Heaven.- 

(The füllowing mutilaled lines describe the misfortunes brouLjhl about by the 
eclipse. The land is wasted and mankind oppressed with miseiy. ) 

Now when the Seven .... 
To begin .... evil .... 
His glorious mouth for ever .... 
Sin .... the race of mankind . . 

His light was darkened, he (the moon)^ sat not upon his 

throne. 
The evil gods, messengers of their king Anu, 
bringing it to pass that evil enters into the head (of man) 

makes them tremble . . . . , 
they seek after evil, 

they break forth from the heavens like a wind over the land. 
From heaven Bei saw the darkening of the hero Sin ; 
the Lord spoke to his servant Xusku : 

" My servant Nusku, take a message to Apsil ! ocean, the realm 
of Ea), take news of my son Sin, who is miserably darkened in the 
heavens, teil it to Ea in Apsil." 

Nusku obediently carried the word of his Lord, 

went in haste to Ea in Apsil : 

to the Prince, the mighty counseller, the L,ord Ea 

Nusku carried the word of his Lord. 

Ea received this news in Apsn, 

he bit his lips, his mouth was füll of woe, 

Ea spoke to his son Marduk and said to him : * 

1 P. 14. - Pp. 39, 119. -' P'ull-moon poinl, see fig. I5- 

■* Heie also Marduk plays the part originally given to Nebo. 



THE PANTHEON— SliN ij3 

" Go, my son Marduk, 

let tlie darkening of the Prince's son, the Light-giver Sin, 

who is miserably darkened in the heavens, shine forth in 

the heavens, 
the Seven, the evil gods, who fear not the laws. 
the Seven, the evil gods, who break forth like a flood and 

afflict the land, 
breaking over the land hke a water-spout, 
the Light-giver Sin they have violently besieged, 
they have made the heroes Shamash and Adad their con- 

federates. . . ." ^ 

The phases are described in the Vth table of the epic Enuma 
elish : 2 

^ " He lit up the moon,3 to ruie the night, he ordained him as a 
night body, to distingiiish the days : monthly, iinceasingly, go 
forth (new moon)-i from the (dark) disc (enchanted cloak of 
darkness), again to give hght over the hmd ^ (hilal !) at the be- 
ginning of the month, beam forth with horns, to deternüne six 
days (the seventh day is half moon, then the horns vanish) ; on 
the 7th day the disc shall be half, on the 14th thou s'halt 
reaeh (?) the half (monthly) (füll moon, the half of the Innar 
cycle). When Shamash (sun) from the heights of lieaven 
lights (?) thee behind him (?) (From the time of the füll moon 
the sun is beneath the horizon when the moon rises, and therefore 
lights the further side.) [On 2 ist.] Approach the path of the 
sun; [on 27th, that is, 28th] Thou shalt meet witli Shamash, and 
stand with him " (meet the sun and vanish in him).'^ 

The places of worship of Sin are Ur in South Babylonia and 
Haran in Mesopotamia, where he is worshipped as Jßel-Haran 
and also under the name of Sin : Nabonidus speaks of the 
temple of Sin at Haran.'' 

A "twin" character of Sin and Nergal has already (p. 71) been 
spoken of. Nergal in this case was like the sun. When in V. R. 
46 Lugalgira and Shitlamtaea are called twins : 

■• The rest is missing. The exorcism follows. 

2 Compare with this the tablet of the kmar cycle, fig. 15, p. 36, Line 12 ff. 
(continuation of the analysis given on p. 31). 

^ Variation, " his star." Ninib-Mars must be meant for completion. 

■* Uiiiush (imp. oinainäshu). 

^ Not "in the land" ; e-[lij, see King, 193. 

" Unfortunately the rest is mutilated. 

' See also Hommel, G. G. G., p. 87. In the South Arabian names of the gods, 
as at present knovvn, from the exclusively lunar character of which Homme! draws 
the most far-reaching conclusions, how far the names really denote the moon is, 
VOL. I, 8 



114 BABYLONIAN RELIGION 

Star of the Great twins Lugalgira and Shitlamtaea, 

Sin and Nergal^ 

the following equation may be fovnied on the grounds of the 
deductions given on p. 1.5 : 

Gemini -= Moon and Sun 

= Ninib and Nergal ^ 

= Upper half and under half of the ecliptic. 

But now Lngalgira = Gibil, for Gibil as Fire-god belongs to the 
(hot) north point of the ecliptic, therefore Lugalgira = Ninib (moon- 
})lanet in this System) and then Shitlamtaea = Nergal (sun-planet in 
this System). 

But the idea of twins can also refer to the moon alone, in the 
tvvo halves, the growing and the waning moon (for this reason 
he is repeatedly called ellamme, "twin," compare the zodiacal 
hieroglyph which represents Gemini : TT) ; "' and in this connection 
Lugalgira may be the growing and Shitlamtaea the waning half of 
the moon. 

As Oracle, Sin is hei purusse, " Lord of Fate.'' In Assur- 
banipaPs annals the priest reads by night upon the diso of the 
füll moon what Nebo has written thereon. 

In myth the moon is the Wanderer and the Hunter, and, 
above all, Shepherd. " May he fix the course of the stars of 
heaven ; may he pasture the gods all together as their shepherd." 
The court of the moon was therefore called tarhasu supuru, 
" sheepfold." His symbols are staff (magic wand) and spear, 
whilst the sun is characterised by the bow. Also the other 
tvvo magic agents of antiquity, goblet and drinking-horn, agree 
with the phases of the moon ; the latter is certainly the crescent 
of the waning moon,^ the former, aecording to Hüsing, the 
half moon. 

in my opinion, not at present possible to decide. Tlie people of Hadramaut 
worshipped Sin, the Saboeans no doubt understood by Haubas (Haubas and his 
aimies) the moon. What 'Anim of the Katabanians was does not seem to me 
certain, in spite of nannes like 'Amm-ner ; and Wadd of the Minceans was more 
hke Marduk than like Sin. It must always be remembered that sun, moon, and 
Ishtar show the same phenomena among the " Canaanite " divinities. 

^ Zimmern, in K.A.T., ßi'd ed,, 413, in connection with Jensen, has not noted 
this fundamental equation, and this is the cause of a great many of his objections 
to the " System." 

- See Zimmern, K.A.T., 3rd ed. pp. 363 f. (comp. 413), from whose interpreta- 
tion I differ in some essential points ; and comp, now Winckler, F., iii. 2S6 seq. 

'' This is the mythological meaning of the " Cup of AfFiiction." 



THE PANTHEON— SH AM ASH 115 

SHA:\rA.sH^ 
"Sumei'ian'' Utu, is Sun-god, revoaliiig light and truth and 
justice. His figure is an evidence that the cosmic religious 
teaching, which was at the back of the myth in Babylon, did 
not omit a moval purpose. The consultations of the Oracle and 
the hymns praise hini as " Judge of the World/' who rewards the 
good and enchains the wicked, and who in particular watches over 
the incorruptibility of the judge. Further, he is the physkian, 
who heals all ills, Xho. protector of the home, who is commemor- 
ated at the dedication of the house. The natural efFects of the 
sun were described raythologically in highly poetic hymns. 
A great hymn, comprising 400 lines (K. 3182 ; Gray, The 
Sliainash Religi<ms Texts, Chicago, 1901), describes the Opera- 
tions of the sun of the Mysteries, upon whom all gods and men 
and beasts depend. Shamash is then celebrated as hearer of all 
prayers and as guardian of the law. " This is well pleasing 
unto Shamash (to do it), his life shall be prolonged."' 

The weak^ the feeble, the oppressed, the poor 

bow themselves before thee, whoso tarryeth far from his 

family, 
far i'rom liis home, in the heavy vainstorm in the field, 
the shepherd prays to thee ; 

the fearfu] wanderer^ the nierchantmau, the straying spirit of the 
dead, all turn to Shamash. The eyes of the four-footed beasts are 
directed toAvavds his great light. 

In another hymn it is said : ^ 

Shamash, King of Heaven and Eavth, Ruler of the heights and 

the depths ; 
Shamash, in thy band it is to make the dead live, to loose 

the bound ! 
Incorru2itible Judge, Ruler of mankind, lofty offspring of the 

Lord of the glittering rising (that of the Moon), 
AU-powerful, glorious Son, Light of the Lands, 
Creator of all in Heaven and upon earth art thou, Shamash I 

A hymn upon the sunset says : 

^ Compare upon the following the detailed piesentment in the avticles on 
Shamash in Roschei's Lexikon der Mythologie \ Zimmern, A.O., vii. 3, 14; 
Craig, Rel. Texts, ii. 3. All hymns to Shamash except the Gray texts are intro- 
ductions to exorcisms. 

- A.O., vii. 3, 15 ; Winckler, Keihchrifttcxte, 59 f. ; Zimmern. 



]]6 



BABYI.ONIAN RELIGION 



Shamash, when thou enterest into the imiermost Heavens 
The glittering bars of Heaven shout to thee in greeting ; 
the wmgs of the gates of Heaven (see fig. 11) bless thee. 

May Aja, thy beloved wife, joyfully appear before thee, 

niay she quiet thy heart, 

thy banquet shall be set before thee .... 







Fig. 37. — Sanctuary ot ihe aun-god of Sippar. Dedicatory inscription 
882 B.C. by Nabubaltaladan. 



The course of the sun over the heavens is thought of as a 
drive. " None save Shamash hath crossed over the sea " is said 
in the epic of Gilgamesh. And in the great hymn quoted 
above it is said : " Thou dost cross over the great wide sea." 
This niust be the meaning ; for V. R. 65, 3Sb ff. is plainly 
speaking of his charioteer Bunene, who guides the chariot upon 
which sits the god, and whose horses he harnesses.^ According 

^ See 2 Kings xxüi. 11, " removal of the horses and chaiiot given lo the sun." 
The first hymn of Yasna gives evidence of the chariot of the sun with hurrying 
horses in ancient Persia. In the Rigveda Indra wrenches a wheel from the 
chariot of the sun and so checks his course during the fight with the dragon ; 
comp. Joshua x. 12 f. In the Mithra cult the sun bears the same character. 
In the morning he cleanses the world and passes over the ocean in his chariot ; see 
Cumont, Rlysterien des Mithra, pp. 88, loi. The cliariot of tlie sun belongs to 
the cults which passed over into Europe from the East. In Sofus Müller, 
Urgeschichte Europas, I16, there is a picture of a sun chariot from the bronze 
age found in Zeeland. In the Edda (Völuspa) the horses of the sun are mt-ntioned. 
Also Rabbi Elieser says, " The sun travels in a chariot.'' A Hittite chariot of the 
sun may be seen in the imagery in Joshua i. 



THE PANTHEON— SHAMASH—ISHTAR 117 

to another presentnient he leaves the briclal chamber a>i a hero 
in the morning and runs his cour^e.-'^ 

The places of worship of Shamash are I^arsia in South Baby- 
lonia (Senkerah, south-east froni Nippur, probably the Ellasar 
of Gen. xiv. 1) and Sippar in North Babylonia (Abu Habba). 
In both places the temple was called E-babbara, " the white 
house/' In Sippar A-a (Ai) is named as his "bride,"- and 
Kettu and Mesharu, Right and Justice, as his children.^ Fig. 
37 shows the sanctuary of Shamash in Sippar. 

Together with pure sun-worship, of which we know little 
up to the present, the Babylonian religion eniphasi.ses the 
phenoniena dependent upon the sun, of the four (or two) 
seasons of the year (in a manner four phases of the sun), and 
sees in the four planets the four chief points of the zodiacal 
solar phenoniena, i.e. (in the epoch which takes Marduk as 
spring point) Marduk = spring and morning sun, Nebo = 
autumn sun, Ninib = summer sun, and Nergal = winter sun; 
see p. 32. We have already spoken of the triad Shamash, 
Sin, and Ishtar. 

ISHTAF. 

According to her place in the System she is the daughter of 
Anu, or of Bei, or of Sin. She is the goddess, and her name 
denotes the idea of universal "goddess." Every feminine 
phenomenon of the Babylonian Pantheon is fundamentally 
embodied in hei-. She is simply the feminine analogy of the 
divinity. For this reason hhiv, " wife,"" is written with the 
ideogram Nindhigir-ra, that is, BelH iläni. As such she is : 

1. The mother of the gods and Mother-goddefis, and there- 
fore she is prayed to in the hyrans as "helper"; as bäncd 
tcnisJicti, mushtesheo-cd gimir nabnitu, hea^■enly midwife. After 

^ Comp. Ps. xix. 6 seq. In the hymn quoted above Shamash returns home in 
the evening to his bride Aja. 

" IJoramel explains A-a as moon ("feminine" in contradiction to a "Chal- 
dean," that is, West Semitic, masculine iNIoon-god Ai), and draws fiom it the most 
far-reaching conclusions. Even when it is said in the timeofSargon (ß.A., ii. 
37), " Sincc the days of Shamash and of Ai " ; and K. 669, 11, "So long as 
Shamash and Ai endure," it does not necessaiily mean the moon. If Ai is the 
moon it can only be in the sense described at p. 14. 

■' Nisor and Sydyl< of the Phrenicians. See pp. 137 and 157. 



118 



BABYLONIAN RELIGION 



the flood the gods sit with her on the ashru (zodiac ?) ^ and 
weep over "• their nien" who tili the sea like fishes. And in the 
description in C.T.^ ix. 121, of the types of the various gods 
it is Said of her : " Her bosom is bare, upon her left arm she 
carries a child, which feeds at her breast, whilst she blesses(?) 
with her right.'"' In the hturgy of Xebo froni the time of 





Fig. 38. — Ishtar and child. 
Berl. Mus. V. A. 2408. 



Fig. 39. — Hathor, suckling the 
boy Osiiis. 



Assurbanipal, translated by Röscher, Le.vilvon der Mythologie, 
iii. sp. 61, it is Said : 

Little wast tlioU;, Assurbanipal^ -wlien I left thee with the 

heavenly Queen of Nineveli, 
weak wast thou^ Assurbanipal^ when tliou sätest upon the lap 

of the heavenly Queen of Nineveh, 
frorn the four breasts placed in thy mouth^ thou hast sucked 

from tAvo, and hast buried thy face in the other two.^ 

2. She is Queen of Heaven (sharrat skamami u kakkabe), 

' See Chap. on the Flood. 

2 See fig. 38. 

^ She is therefore represented as a cow, like Hathor-Isis in Egypt, and in- 
deed every goddess ; see p. 109, n. i. Biit this is not toteniism, any moie 
than the sacred cow in the Peisian religion (Jackson in his Haiidbook of Persian 
Philology explains the cow and the hound as the deification of the nomadic 
ideal). E. Naville has lately discovered a sanctuary in Thebes, the roof represent- 
ing the starry heavens, and in it is a cow suckling Osiris ; comp. p. 119, n. 2, 
and see fig. 3g. 



THE PANTHEON— ISHTAR 



119 



who takes the place at Anu's side, whilst sun and moon fight 
their battle. " Queen of Heaven the heights and deeps shall 
be informed, that is my fame '' is said in an Ishtar psahn.^ 

As .such Ishtar is connected with Venus {sliarrat hikkabe, 
Queen of the Stars), and, ...-vwyim'ui,!,, 



following the law of ana- 




log v, with the zodmcal 
sign of Y'irgo. As Virgo 
she bears the child ' or 
carries the ear of corn in 
her band. Spica, " ear "' 
(of coiT.) is the brightest 
star in Virgo. In a text 
from the age of the Ar- 
sacidae the whole sign is 
called sheru, i.e. "ear,"" 
Aramaic «n^l^ Ishtar is 
the Syhil { = shibhoIethy 

3. Since Ishtar- Venus '^ Fig. 40.— Indian Queen of Heaven. After 
TT !_ 1 -j.! Niklas Müller, Glaiiboi. IVisscn n. Kunst 

IS closely connected with ^^^,. Hindns, Tab. i. 6. 

sun and moon, it may be 

conjectured that with her also in the myth there would be 

'^ Sm. 954 ; see Izdtibar-Nimrod, 61, and Zimmern, A.O., vii. 3, 22. üpon the 
"Queen of Heaven" compare the iMalkat shainaim of the Bible, see p. 99 ; 
Athtar sheinaim (feminine) amongst the people of Kedar ; see Winckler, Gesch. 
Is?:, ii. 90. 

- Comp. B.N.T., 36S, and see the Indian picture, fig. 40, where the Queen 
of Heaven with the divinity corresponding to Tanimuz is surroiinded by the 
zodtac, with the lion and eagle beneath it as upon the coats-of-arms in the 
Gudea age. The picture (the original is a carved basrelief, the copy is from the 
portfolio of a Brahmin) may be much modernised, but the foundation of the 
design must be taken from old sources, and also fig. 39 has its source out- 
side Egypt. The Hathor sanctuary mentioned above in n. 3, p. 118, also shows 
Osiris at a more advanced age. The child has become a blooming youth and is 
then the lover of the Queen of Heaven (perhaps the Indian picture, fig. 40, 
represents this). The stages of age correspond to the seasons. In the calendar 
there are at most six (old age is the Death of the Sun), for example, on the 
zodiacal relief in Notre Dame mentioned in B.N. T., 498. 

2 The countersign shibboleth of Judges xii. 6 has therefore a deep signification. 

•* Explicitly attested in III. R. 53, 34*^, and drawn on the monuments as eight- 
or six-pointed star along with moon and sun ; comp. fig. 43. The analogy 
in the fixed-star heaven is Sirins, the star of Ishtar. 



120 



BABYLONIAN RELIGION 



reference to four or two astral phase-phenomena ; the deep 
astral knowledge of the Babylonians and the clearness of 
the Oriental skies makes it verj probable that they knew 
of the phases of Venus. This division into two is naturally 




Fig. 41. 



,i,;... ^.\,,hera), marble found at Ras-el-'ain 
in Mesopotamia. 



also here brought into connection with the revelation of 
physical life.i According to her telluric characteristics she 
is on the one band the life-destroying (comp. Ishtar, in the 
VIth table of the Gilganiesh epic, who brings destruction 
upon her lovers, Köre and Persephone), on the other band the 
life-bringing goddess, rescuing froui the Underworld ( = Ceres) 

1 We have repeatedly lemarked that the accentuation uf this " antagonism in 
natui-e" seems to be " Canaanite." Hence the prominence of Astaite in 
Canaanite worship. 



THE PANTHEON— ISHTAR 121 

— Summer and winter, day and night. Hammurabi says in 
H.C.. ii. 26 fF., see pp. 96, 110, that he "bedecked the grave 
of Malkat \}.c. Ishtar of Sippar a.s wife of the Sun-god] with 
green," the colour of resurrection. Or is this analogous to the 
Venus myth, according to which the evening star uhich has 
gone down is brought back as morning star by Shamash ? 
Ishtar in the grave is identical with Tammuz in the Underworld, 
and with Marduk in the grave. It is a question evervwhere 
of the cycle of death and Hfe. The "journev to hell of Ishtar" 
describes her descent into the I.^nderworld (\^inter), when all 
life dies. She brings back her consort, the sanken Year-god, 
as in the reversed myth the sunken Ishtar is brought back by 
the husband ; for exaniple, Erishkigal by Nergal, Euridice by 
Orpheus. The one side represents natura, the other the sun, 
or vice versa. As life-bringing goddess she is veiled (see fig. 
41); the unveiled Ishtar brings death.^ 

Also in her double character of morning and evening star 
Ishtar re^eals the dissension in physical nature. Only in 
the niythology there is a division into two stars. As ilat 
shereti she proclaims the new life (morning star, Greek 
Phosphoros), as evening star {Helal hen Shahar, Isa. xiv. 12 ff., 
Lucifer) she falls from heaven into the Under\\orld, like the 
sun (Tammuz) in winter, and like the moon in the last phase. 
It is certain that from very early times a cult which was con- 
nected with Prostitution had been joined to this idea. In the 
so-called Dibarra legends (K.B., vi. 56 ff.) there are already 
the sJutmhdti and harimäti., " whose hands Ishtar restores to the 
man and gives to him for bis own possession.'" "^ The names 

1 See Winckler in M.l'.J.G., 1901, 304 ff. and Gen. xxxviii. 14. Compare 
further the essay " Saleiermythus,'' Beitrag, ztcr A7igr., Bd. vi. We often meet 
with the veil niotif. Fig. 41 represents a veiled Ishtar ; see M. Oppenheim, 
Zeitsch. der Berl. Geselhch. und Erdk., Bd. xxvi. Friedrich holds there is 
another upon the seal, Clercq, ii. 229, B.A., v. 476. Also in the text cited 
above, the veil of Ishtar is mentioned, and the sea maiden in the üilgamesh epic 
is veiled. Sellin discovered a veiled Ishtar in Taannek. We niay recall the veiled 
picture in Sais, and Demeter "with shining veil"; see in addition, Maass, 
Orpheus, a book which presents most valuable material, but misses the Oriental 
character of the Mysteries. 

^ From the means we possess at present we cannot arrive at Ihe roots of this 
Astarte cult either in civil or religious history (the woman is freed from the family 
ties of marriage and Ihrough dedication lo the Divinity). It must be emphasised 



122 



BABYLONIAN RELIGION 



shamhati and harhiiäti are both the usual designation for the 
courtesans in Assyrian and Babylonian cities. 

4. The \irs:in Ishtar was also eoddess of war and of 




FlG, 42. — Ibhtar as Goddess of War. Pcisian periud. 





mm: 



Fig. 43. — Ishtar as Goddess of the Chase. Brit. Mus. (From Cyprus. 



that, together with the cult of prostitution, which is possil^ly a decadence, the 
worship of sexual things (in particular Phalhc worship) must have arisen out of a 
purely religious point of view. The phaUus planted by Bacchus at the gate of 
Hades is a symbol of the Resurrection. In the Old Testament they swore by the 
sexual organs(comp. p. 77, ii.). Compare Jacob Grimm, Illyth., ii. 1200: " Phallic 
worship, which a later age, conscious of its shame, carefully avoided, must be the 
outcome of a blameless veneration for the generative principle. " 



THE PANTHEON— ISHTAR 123 

hunting (Moon-goddess), even in ancient Babylonian times, as 
is sho^\•n by fig. 42. With Hamnuirabi, but more especially 
with the Assyrians, she was " Mistress of War and of Battle,'' ^ 
and with Nabonidus, Ishtar (Anunit) was War-goddess with 
quiver and bow.- She is represented as '- clothed with flame,"' ^ 
with quiver and bow, and standing upon a leopard ; see fig. 43. 
" I fly to the battle like a swallow " is said in a hymn,'* — the 
Ancient-Oriental Walkyre ! It is not to be wondered at, with 
the androdyogynous character of every divinity, and specially 
of Islitar, that we should find a bearded Ishtar in the records ; 
















Fig. 44. — Ishtar with Shamash (Rising Sun? see p. 23, fig. 11) 
and other «jods. Brit. Museum. 



for example, in Craig's Relig. Te.vts, i. 7 : " Like Assur she is 
bearded" (compare the bearded Venus of the Romans and the 
bearded Aphrodite of Cyprus).-^ She is then nothing eise than 
a manifestation of her counterpart, Tanimuz, the Arabian Attar.^ 
The special places of worship of Ishtar are Uruk in South 
Babylonia, Akkad in North Babylonia, and in Assyria, Nineveh, 
and Arbela. 

■* An Ancient-Babylonian monument with Ishtar as goddess of battle ; see 
Exod. xiv. 24. 

- Ä'.Ä, iii. I, 113 ; 2, 105. 

" Comp. fig. 43. 

* Reisner, Hymn, loS, 44 ; see Zimmern, K.A.T., 3rd ed., 431'. 

■' See Preller-Kobert, i. 509. P\nther, compare the androgynous Cybele as 
Agdestis ; the priests in women's robes. On the other hand, Adonis serves as 
wife to Apollo. 

^ See above, p. S7. He is evening and morning star (Phosphor-Lucifer) ; 
see p. 121, 



124 



BABYLONIAN RELIGION 



Rammax-Adad^ 

Ramman or Adad (there is evidence in the cuneiform writings 
of botli readings for the divine ideogram IM)- represents the 





Fig. 45. — Picture of a god found 
in Babylon (Adad-Ramman). 



Fig. 46. — The god Te?hup. From 
a Hittite plaque at Zenjirli. 



divine revelation in storin phcnomena, especially in ytorm with 
thunder and hghtning.'^ One of the dominating tribes of 
Babylonia niust have given hini the role of stoni/nis deu-s. He 

1 Compare the detailed presentment in arlicle on Ramman b)' A. Jeremias in 
Roschei's Lexikon der Mytholo^qi,'.. 

" On a pre-Armenian inscription discovered by Pielck-Lehman il is written 
A-da-di-nirari (Ramman-nirari). This is the usual Assyiian reading. Other 
readinc's are Addu and Dada. There is also evidence for the reading Bir. 

^ This god was called Teshup by the Hittites ; see figs. 45 and 46. Jupiter 
Dolichenus, whose emblems are the same, is Ramman-Teshup imported into 
Rome and Germania by Syrian traders. In Europe we meet with him as Thor 
with the double hammer ; according to Sofus Müller, Urgeschichte Europas, 59, 
the idea passed into Europe from pre-Mycenaean Crete, where Zeus appears with 
the double hammer. 



THE PANTHEON— RAMMAN-ADAD—TAMMUZ 125 



is represented as GAL, god of heaven and earth, and as the son 

of Anu, who %hts for the stolen Tables 

of Fate. Representing stonii pheno- 

mena in the cjcle, he bvings both destruc- 

tion and blessing. His symbol is a 

thunderbült and double hammer.^ To- 

gether with Shamash he is represented 

in the texts of the oracle as "Lord of 

revelations." He was referred to upon 

questions of tenipest and of h'irtli. In 

K 2370 the priest makes inquiry on 

behalf of his client'.s wife " who has lone* 

dwelt beneath the shadow of Ramnian." 

She has been safely delivered, but it is 

not a hoy^ and the father's heart is filled 

with grief. A hynni to Adad-Rannnan 

says : ^ 




Fig. 47. — The god Aclad, 
found in Babylon. 



The heavens trerable before the Lovd 

when he is angry^ 
The earth quakes before Adad when 

his thunders roll ; 
The high mountains are cast down before him, 
At the sound of his anger. 
At the voice of his thunders, 
The gods of Heaven ascend into the heights-, 
The gods of the Underworld descend into the depths,, 
The sun sinks into the deeps of heaven^, 
The moon rises in the heights of heaven. 



TAÄr.MUz -^ 

We have already spoken of this figure in earlier chapters. 
He represents the recurrent sinking into the Underworld and 

' Friedrich, B.A., v. 45S ff., spealcs of some other representations of Adad ; 
and comp. Joshua i. ff. for corresponding Syrian representations of Teshup. 

- IV. R. 2S, No. 2; see Zimmern, A.O., vii. 3, 12. Many features in the 
poetical pictures of the judgments of Yahveh are reminiscent of Adad : 
I Sam. vii. 10, comp. xii. 17 ff.; Isa. xxix. 6 ; Jer. xxiii. 19; Ez. xiii. 13; 
comp. Friedrich, B.A.. v. 466. CT., xv. 15 f. is a Sumerian hymn to 
Ramman. 

^ Upon the characteristics of Tamnniz, compare " Hölle u. Paradies," A.O., i. 
3'; 9 f-j 32 ; Vellay. Le cullc if Adouis-Taiiuimz; and comp. p. 130, n. 2. 



126 BABYLONIAN RELIGION 

rising again to new life, and may bear solar or lunar — or Venus 
(Attar, Lucifer, Phosphor) — character ; he also includes the 
phenomena of Marduk (light half) and Nebo (dark half), that 
is, of Ninib and Nergal ; ^ bat above all he represents the life 
and death of Vegetation which runs parallel with the cycle."' 
At the Summer solstice Tammuz descends into the Underworld 
(the month in question bears his name). His niother, Ishtar, 
or his sister (both in fact identical), descend to bring him back. 
The descent signifies the death of natural life, the cessation of 
generation. At the ^vinter solstice he ascends to bring new 
life. Tammuz (Damuzi) is the god of the Babylonian Mysteries. 
In the cults of the cities he has no pi'ominent position, in the 
rituals of sorcery he seldom appears, but he appears in the 
theophoric names, and that onlv in the most ancient time, before 
Hammurabi. But at all times one of the twelve months was 
dedicated to the festival of Tannnuz and bore his name — that 
is, the month of the summer solstice. 

In the Babylonian period the sixth month was called "the 
month of the festival of Tammuz," and in the hymns from the 
Greek period the month of Tammuz is called "month of the 
conquest by Tamniuz." The litanies and hymns A\hich celebrate 
Tammuz dying at the summer solstice and his resurrection at 
the winter solstice, preserved out of all periods of Babylonian 
religion, are discussed at pp. 96 fl". In the genealogies of the 
gods, Tammuz, corresponding to his character as representation 
of the cycle, belongs on the one hand to Ea (CT., xxiv. 1 ff. ; 
the first of the six sons of Ea), god of the ocean from which the 

1 Tammuz and Gishzida at Ami's gate, as in IV. R." 30, No. 2, where it is 
certainly speaking of Tammuz as son of Ningishzida in the opposing realm, the 
Underworld. They represent the two halves of the year, at north and south 
points (comp. p. 157, n. 2 ; pp, 24 and 208), asjachin and Boaz represent the east 
and west points : the north point being summer solstice is the critical point 
of all Telluric phenomena. Compare further Zimmern in Abh. der Kgl. Sachs. 
Ges. der Wissenschaft, 1909, vol. xxvii. (jubilee volume), pp. 70 ff. 

^ Myths of Vegetation on the one hand, and cosmic and cycle myths on the other 
hand, correspond to each other. For this reason myths of Vegetation are always 
myths of the Underworld. The new seon arises out of the Underworld. Journeys 
to hell always bear an astral character corresponding to the solar or lunar cycles, 
or to the phenomena of Venus (morning and evening star). Whether the myths 
of Vegetation or the astral myths are the more ancient we cannot as yet decide 
from the records. Emphasis of the phenomena of Vegetation (seed-time and 
harvest, summer and winter) appears to be characteristic of the Canaanite race. 



THE PANTHEON— TAMMUZ 127 

aeons avise, on the other band he belongs to Shamash, but, 
above all, to Ishtar, whose child, brother, and husband he is, 
(Geshtm-cmna, '' the sister/' is a differentiation of the mother- 
wife) aceording to the phenomenon of the cycle represented by 
the respective myths. In like manner his Identification with 
Ninib explain.s itself by the mythologv of the cycle. Ninib 
represents the summer solstice point ; aceording to IV. R. 33 he 
is god of the month of Tamniuz. As such he may, on the other 
band, be the destroyer of Tamniuz (Ninib as boar). 

The calendar is the source of the myths of Tammuz. Aceord- 
ing to one of the dirges ^ the child Tammuz lies " as a child in a 
sinking ship " ( "as a great one he plunges into the grain and 
lies there " ). This is, in our opinion, a play upon the myth of 
the sacred ehest, or ship, in which the youthful Year-god, 
persecuted by the hostile power, is exposed (see Exod. ii. upon 
the birth of Moses). Representing natural life endangered by 
death he is " the shepherd,'' " Lord of herds of cattle,'' Lord of 
the grains and of " free and plant " growth. When Tammuz 
sinks at the solstice, " the shepherd sits in desolation," and upon 
earth the death of Vegetation, the cessation of generation, is 
mourned. But the depth of destruction is only reached when 
his mother (or sister) descends (winter season) to raise him up 
again. The Adapa text upon the journey to hell of Ishtar, 
with the conclusion of rituals, which describes the reawakenino- 
of Tammuz, gives a variant of the disappearance of Tammuz. 

The Nabatfean books of El-Maqrisi (Chwolsoh]i, ii. 604 ff.) contain 
a Version of this myth : Tammuz was the first to require a certain 
king to give divine honour to the seven planets and the twelve 
signs of the zodiac. This king killed him, but he came to life 
agaiu after his execution. Then the king had him executed three 
times in a gruesome fashion, but he came to life after each execu- 
tion, tili the last, when he remained dead.2 . . . The Mand^ans 
of Babylonia and Harran weep and lament ^ over Tammuz to the 
]iresent day (i.e. tenth Century a.d.) in the montli of the same 
name, at one of their festivals which has reference to Tammuz, 
and they celebrate a great festival, which is specially kept by the 
women, who assemble themselves together, and weep and lament. 

' Zimmern, Snm. babyl. Tammitzliedcr, p. 20S. 

- Therefoie celebrated with or without Resurrection festival. 

■'' Upon the first day of Tammuz, the end of the text says. It also says there 
that they did not understand the meaning, but continued the same celebrations as 
their forefathers. 



128 BABYLONIAN RELIGION 

Jftar amongst the Arabs, Dusarcs in the cult of Petra,^ 
Tammuz-Adoii'is amongst the Phoenicians, Greeks,- and Attis 
amongst the Phiygians'^ correspond to Tammuz. We will 
add a few particulars in regard to this group of myths. 
We learn more detail about the Tanmuiz cult amongst the 
Phoenicians through Lucian, de Dea syra, and by monunients 
at the source of the river of Adonis in I.ebanon. We have 
reproduced in fig. 31, p. 99, the rock-relief at the source 
of the Adonis river,'* which annually turns red, described also 
by Macrobius, Saturn., i. 21. Renan, who in his ExjxdH'ion m 
Phenicie, fig. 36, reproduces the relief from an inaccurate 
drawing, shows also another rock-relief in the neighbourhood 
representing the hunter Adonis-Tammuz with two hounds. 

Macrobius, Seit., i. 21 : '^Amongst the Assyrians er Phoenicians 
the goddess Venus (the wpptv hemisphere, whilst they call the 
lower half Proserpine) becomes a niourning goddess^ because the 
sun, passing in the course of the yeav through the twelve zodiacal 
signs, comes also into the lower hemisphere ; for they consider six 
of the signs to be under and six to be above the world. When the 
sun is in the lower signs, and so the days are shortened, they say 
the goddess mourns, as though the sun were for a time dead and 
imprisoned by Proserpine,^ who represents the divinity of the under 
half of the circle, and of the antipodes,"^ and they believe that 
Adonis is given back to Venus when the sun rises into the upper 
signs with increasing light and length of days. But they say 
Adonis was killed by a boar because this beast represents winter. 
. . . The mourning goddess is pictured at Lebanon wäth veiled 
head and an expression of grief ; her left hand holds her cloak to 
her face so that she appears to be weeping." 

Lucian, de Dea syra, 9' " A stream rising in Mount Lebanon 
flows into the sea, and is called Adonis. Every year the waters 

^ For Attar and Dusares, see p. 87, n. i. 

" In Hellenic mythology the musical instiuments were personified. Ababas 
takes his name from the flute used at funerals, abübu ; Kinyras, father of Adonis, 
from the Jdiiuür. Thejourney to hell of Eneas, like the fable of Orpheus and 
Eurydice, contains the oriental motif of the journey into the Underworld. 

' Macrobius, Saturnal., i. 21, knew the identity of Adonis, Attis, Osiris, and 
Horus as representative of the cycle. 

■* The Arabians recognisc the Tammuz motif in the traditions of Abraham. 
The river which at certain seasons turns to a red colour, and at the source of 
which in Lebanon is the sanctuary of the Mother-goddess mourning for Adonis, 
is called the Nähr Ibrahim. 

^ Compare above, journey to hell of Ishlar, pp. 38, 121. 

^ Note that Macrobius knew the earth to be a globe. 



THE PANTHEON— TAMMUZ 



129 



turn blood-red at a certain season, and the sea far around is dyed 
red and gives the symbol of mourning to the people. They relate 
that at this season Adonis lies wounded upon Lebanon, and his 
blood flowing into the stream changes the colour of the watei'^ 
hence its name." Ib. 6 : "I saw in Byblos a great sanctuary of 
Ajihroditej in which mysteries in honour of Adonis were eelebrated, 




-Death of Tammuz-Adonis (not an antique, see text). 




Fig. 49. — Lamentation for Tammuz-Adonis (not an antique, see text). 

with which I made myself acquainted. They relate that the mis- 
fortune with the boar happened in this neighbourhood^ and they 
celebrate mysteries once every year in memory of Adonis^ with 
general lamentation^ smiting themselves upon the breast, and they 
bring offerings to the body and veil their heads. . , . Amongst 
the inhabitants of Byblos there are some who say that the 
Egyptian Osiris is buried in their land, and that the mysteries 
VOL. I. 9 



130 BABYLONIAN RELIGION 

and the lamentations are not for Adonis^ but all in honouv 
of Osiris." ^ 

Figs. 48 and 4'9 represent the death of Adonis-Tammuz 
and the grief of Ishtar-Aphrodite. Vellay has bronght forward 
these pictures as evidence of the ancient cult. They are 
taken from Montfau9on's Antiquite illustree, and Vellay has vepro- 
duced them in all good faith as antique pictures."^ Montfaiicon, 
who took them from Berger's Thesaurus Brandenhurgicns (I696), i. 
p. 202^ States of fig. 48 that the original is in the collection 
of Brandenburg. The administration of the Royal Museums^, in 
reply to my inquiry, State that there is nothing knoAvn of the 
whereabouts of the two specimens. Undoubtedly they are neither 
of them antique ; nevertheless we give the pictures because the 
artist has presented the myth very finely^ as laas the artist of the 
late Greek sarcophagus^ fig. 29, p. 97. Fig. 50 is of an Etruscan 
mirror ; the second figure on the left represents, according to 
the marginal note, " Atunis " ; alongside of him^ Aphrodite. 

The Phiygian and Lydian Attis is the Variation of the 
Taniniuz niyth in Asia Minor. His coniplenient here is " the 
great Mother " (Kybele, /xeyaX?; ß/jTijp). Zeus, who takes the 
place of Mars-Ninib under Hellenistic influence (see fig. 13, 
p. 28), sends a boar, according to the Ljchan myth, to kill 
Attis because he initiated the Lydians into the orgies of the 
great Mother." " Therefore the Galatians of Lower Pessinus 
touch no pork." The great Mother mourns for bim and buries 
him, and thcre is a grave of Attis shown in Pessinus (comp, the 
graves of the gods, p. 96). The " Orgies " show that in 
Phrygia the reawakening of nature and the corresponding 
resurrection of Attis was celebrated as in the worship of Ishtar- 
Tammuz. In Phrygia the fading away of physical life is in- 
tentionally emphasised. This is the signification of castration, 
which was here connected with the Attis celebrations ; and 
the amputation of one breast amongst the Amazons, who were 
companions of the great Mother, is probably a counterpart.* 

The cult migrated to Greece, as is shown by inscriptions 

^ Comp. Landau, Beiträge, iv. 18 ff. 

"^ Vellay 's book must be used with great caution, but it offers a good collection 
of classical material. 

^ So we are told by Pausanias, vii. 17,9. 

■* Herodotus, iv. 76, mentions customs of Attis-worship, and Plutarch, de Ts. et 
Osir., 69 ; also ihe astronomer Julius Firmicus Maternus, de errore profan, relig. 
(comp. B.N.T., 19). 



THE PANTHEON— TAMMUZ 



131 



from the beginning of the second Century b.c. (see Hepding, 
/.c, 134), and was introduced at the Palatine, Rome, in the year 
204 B.c. by direction of the Sybilhne Books (!) ; after the time 
of C'laudius the festival was piibhcly celebrated in the second 
half of the month of March. In the time of moumincr castus 




Fio. 50. — Etruscan mirror. Aphrodite and Adonis, after Vellay, p. 68. 

(abstinence) was required, and on the third day they shaved 
and cut themselves with knives. Then came the Parousia 
(Epiphany) of the god. On the 25th March the high priest, 
"füll of the divinity," announcecl Att'is has reUirned, rejoice in 
Itis Parousia. Firmicus mves fuller detail of the ceremonies.^ 



^ Hepding is donbtful whether it refers to Attis or Osiris. Tiiey are consub- 
stantial. The relation of Damascius in the Vi'fa Isidori showsthat the resuiTection 
was celebrated, where it is said of the Hilary festival of the Mother of the Gods : 
'Svsp ^^■f)Kov Ti]v el'AiSou yiyovviav 7)fxS>v (rwTiipiav. 



132 BABYLONIAN RELIGION 

The priest murmurs in a low voice : 

Oappelri fxvcTTai Toi) öeou (T€(roj(rfi€vov 
€(TTat yap vjMv Ik Trov(üv (Hurrjpia. 

Comfort ye, ye Initiates, in the deliverance of the God, 
for it shall be for you a deliverance from your distress.^ 

Since we have already repeatedly expressed the opinion that 
the Ancient-Oriental doctrine is the foundation of the Gernianic 
myths also, and since we purpose in Cliap. III. to deal with 
northern, that is, Germania cosniogony, it niay be allowed us to 
refer here to the viyth of BaJdur. Fr. Kauffmann, BaJchir in 
Mythus und Sage^ Strasburg, 1902, presents the Baidur niyth 
as a reflection of a celestial occurrence : life and death in the 
course of the year and in the cycle of the ages. *■' The ancients 
speak of a universe or great year {mahäyiigam ; annus hulvI- 
mus ; annus mundanus), by the end of which the stars will 
have returned into the constellations where they were in the 
beginning of the ages. The great year begins with a deluge 
and ends with a conflagration of the universe." - This cosmic 
speculation passed early into Scandinavia also in the form of 
a prophecy in which the Baidur myth was niade the central 
point. Kauffmann connects religious speculation with it : 
" Baidur is the sacrifice which was to prevent the destruction 
of the present system, but the sacrifice of Baidur is iri vain, 
and all life will be destroyed in one great sacrifice for sin at 
the twilight of the gods. Then comes the Golden Age, sacri- 
ficial death creates new life, and Baidur will return agaln.'' 
Eminent Germanists have proved these conclusions to be 
wrong.'^ Nevertheless, I believe that Kauffmann towards the 
end of his book is right in referring back the Baidur myth 
to the Ancient-Oriental doctrine.'* Kauffiiiann must also 
allow that Rudbeck, 1689, was not altogether wrong in con- 
necting the Baidur myth with the result, ad solis circuitum 

1 The sanie figure of speech is used in regard to the Redeemer in Gen. v. 29. 
- Compare the evidence of Berossus, pp. 70 f. 

2 Heusler in Z). Lit. Ztg., 1903, No. 8. Mogk in Literatiirblalt für germaii. 
u. roman. Philologie, 1905, No. 6. 

* Kauffmann holds, " It is not unlikely that the whole idea of a great Company 
assembled round Odin in heaven sinking avvay in the great conflagration, as the 
Stars fall from heaven, was brought to the Germans in a prehistoric age (!) from 
the East (!) and adopted by them." 



THE PANTHEON— TAMMUZ 133 

annumn Jucc omnia referenda esse, and that the "long for- 
gotten" Finn Magnusen, together with his followers E. G. 
Geijer and N. M. Petersen, were in the right direction giving 
a cosniic perspective to Rudbeck''s view and seeing in Baidur 
a prototvpe of the great iiniverse year fulfilling its end in a 
universal conilagration. German mythology must be founded 
in certain points upon the wrongfully neglected researches of 
Jacob Grimm. 

The Vöhe teil of ancient things in the Völuspa saga : Six 
Valkyries ride from heaven to earth. In the branches of a mighty 
tree grows the mistletoe, which becomes an arrow in the band of 
Loki. Fngg laments over her slain son. But Baidur will some 
day return to Walhalla. Then "the land will bear fruit unsown ;^ 
all evil will cease." 

l'he fragments of Ulfr's poem Husdrapa (about 975) relate to 
mythological pictures painted upon the walls of a new house built 
for a great man in Iceland^ and which repi-esent the combat of 
Heimdallr with Loki, the funeral celebrations of Baldur^ etc. Ulfr 
was an adherent of the old faith. On the fragments relating to 
Baidur his funeral pile is prepared upon a ship. Odin himself 
appears accompanied by Valkyries and ravens. Freyr rides near 
upon a boar with golden bristles (I), Heimdallr upon a horse. The 
scenes may be completed out of the Edda of Snorres : Nanna^ 
daughter ot' Nefr^- dies of grief and is laid upon the funeral pile. 
The giantess Hyrokin pushes the ship from the land, then Thor 
consecrates the funeral pile with his hammer. The gods, however, 
send a messenger to rescue Baidur out of the house of Hel.^ 

In a half strophe of the Rafns saga, dating about 1220, it is said : 
'•Everything wept — then have I^ wonderful as it may seem, 
undertaken to rescue Baidur from the Underworld " ; and in a 
collection of sayings of the twelfth Century we find :".... the 
Underworld had SAvallowed up Baidur ; all wept for him, mourning 
was made ready for him ; his story is so well known, Avhy should I 
say niuch about it .^ " 

Snorres' Edda teils how Baidur, the good son of Odin, was slain 
on the vvrestling ground, through Loki's treachery, by the blind 
Hödur ■* with a brauch fi-om the mistletoe, which alone of all things 
in nature had sworn no oath to Frigg. All the gods wept bitterly.^ 

^ Comp. Zimmern, K.J. T., 3rd ed., 330 ff., zndB.N.T., 31 ff., with this motif 
of the Golden Age. 

- In Snorres' Edda, Forseti is called the son of Baidur and Nanna. 

"' For selections from Snorres' account, see Kauffmann, pp. 30 ff. 

*' In the Icelandic version, by Loki, is Hödur put in by Snorres ? 

5 Kauffmann was Struck, and with reason, by the non-Germanic characteristic of 
the sacredness of tears in the northern myth. It is the lamentation for Tammuz. 



134 BABYLONIAN RELIGION 



Frigg asks who amongst them will ride into the Underworld to 
rescue Baidur. Hermodr, a brother of Baidur, rides nine nights 
through dark Valleys to the Golden Bridge, guarded by a maiden. 
Northwards the way leads to the Underworld, the gate of which 
Hermodr's horse leaps over. Baidur shall be released if with the 
Asa everything, living and dead, weeps for him. Hermodr returns 
home. Baidur gives him the ring Draupnir to carry to Odin, 
Nanna gives her kerchief for Frigg. The Asa send messengers to 
everything in existence calling upon them to weep for Baidur. ^ 
" Man and beast, earth and rock, all wood and metals wept for 
Baidur, as thou mayest have seen how all these things weep in 
frost and in heat " (!). Only one giantess refused : " Hei keeps 
what she has." 

Marduk of Babylon 

The figure of Marduk of Babylon, fig. 33, as we find it 
expressed froui the Hammurabi age onwards, is a creation of the 
priesthood, to give a religious sanction to Babylon's claims to 
universal rulership. The complete system is personified in 
this figure. He seenis originally to have been identical with 
Marduk of Eridu, but in historical times the two are repre- 
sented by difFerent ideograms and must not be confounded. 
Marduk of Eridu seenis to have always borne solar character- 
istics, whilst Marduk of Babylon seems especially connected 
\vith Jupiter,- as partner of Nabu (Borsippa), with Nergal 
(Kutha), and with Ninib (see p. 102). A hymn says : '' In the 
shining heavens {huruvimi ellnü) is his glorious path.'"' We 
think it niay be proved that the following characteristics were 
transferred to the Babylonian Marduk : — 

1. The functions of King of the gods. The epic Enuma 
elish gives him the most distinguished place amongst the gods. 
Fifty names were conferred upon him — that is, he embodies 
the complete cycle of nature throughout the year and the 
jEon. 

2. From Inlil, Lord of the Zodiac, he takes the role of 
musliim shumäti, " Decider of Fate," and of bei matäti, " Lord of 
Lands " ; these are titles given to Inlil, for example, in the con- 

^ All life is dead, hence the mourning ; compare the journey to hell of Ishtar. 
The motif is not " the redeeming power of the mother's tears," as Kauffmann puts 
it, pp. 53, 63. 

^ For Marduk -Jupiter see Jensen, Kosmologie^ pp. 134 f. 



THE PANTHEON— MARDUK OF BABYLON 135 

cluding paragraphs of tlie Hammurabi stele. In the epic of 

Creation in particalar the place of Bei is given to him.^ There- 

fore he is also given the name Bei, which was originally only 

an epithet of Inlil, but then became a surname. IV. R. 40, 

No, 1 says of Marduk : 

Belj thy dwelling-place is Babylon, 

Thy throne is Borsippa, 

The Wide Heaven is thy heart, 

With thine eyes, Bei, beholdest thou all. 

8. He succeeds Ea in the role of Abkal ilcmi (for example, 
Shurpu, IV. 77, VIII. 71), V^^isest amongst the Gods. This 
is shov/n bv the descriptive words in the code of Ham- 
murabi. The cult of Marduk was then only in process of 
being established, and we find epithets applied to Ea which 
later distinguished Marduk of Babylon. 

4. The qualities of Marduk of Eridu, .son of Ea (p. 106), are 
transferred to him, and the name of the temple Esagila is 
transferred from Eridu to Babylon. The decrees of destiny 
likewise originally lay in the control of the son of Ea. An 
invocation hymn to Marduk says : - 

xAl god without whom the Fate of man is not decreed in the 
deeps of Oeean. 

The exalted position of Demiurgos for Marduk of Babylon, 
as described in the epic Enuma elish, also has its foundation 
in Eridu, not, as connnonly, but without grounds, accepted, 
being transferred to him from Inlil of Nippur. In the story 
of creation (see pp. 142 if.) Marduk of Eridu is creator of 
the World and of mankind. Many of the hynnis which glorify 
Marduk as son of Ea seem to have been transferred bodily to 
the tutelary god of Babylon, especially those referring to the 
merciful open-eared (p. 106) god who went about doing good, 
the saviour of mankind. 

5. Nebo (Nabu) of Borsippa also had to abdicate his ancient 
fame to Marduk of Babylon. In ages before the first dynasty 
Nebo played the part later given to Marduk. The Tables of 
Destiny, which after the combat with Tiamat were given to 

^ So also in Isa. xlvi. i, and in the apocryphal book of Bei in Babylon. 
2 See Hehn, No. t,, A.B.,v. 



136 



BABYLONIAN RELIGION 



Marduk, were earlier apportioned to Nebo, as they were to Anu 

and Bei. After the time of Hammurabi, Nebo however takes 

the lower rank of " Writer of Destinies " in the Du-azag, the 

DwelHng of Fate. The foundation of this change Hes perhaps 

in the calendar reform ; by the retrogression of the precession 

of the equinoxes (see p. 73) the sun has moved into Taurus, 

which belongs to Marduk-Jupiter,^ and 

Marduk takes the place of " prophet ^ 

and deliverer originally belonging to 

Nebo.-^ 

Thus Marduk of Babylon became 

finallv " God of the Universe," " King 

of the Gods,'' " King of Heaven and 

Earth," "Lord of Lords," "King of 

Kings." In one of the hynms glorifying 

this Marduk the poet-priest rises to the 

thought : ■'' 

I will teil of thy greatness to the people 
froni afar. 




Fig. 51. — Quetzalcuatl. 
After Seier, Cod. Vatic. 
3773- 



The seven-storied temple of Marduk 
in Babylon was called E-temen-an-ki, 
" House of the Foundations of Heaven and Earth." It is 
repeatedly said of it, " Its summit shall reach to the heavens," 
and it is the prototype of the Biblical " Tower of Babel "" ; see 
chapter on Tower. 

On New Year's festival, see p. 94 seq. 

An improved naturalistic doctrine of deliverance connected 
itself with the figure of Marduk. He is " the merciful one, 
who loves to awaken from death, the open-eared," who hears 
the prayers of men. This doctrine of deliverance has developed 
in Babylonia right on into the Christian era, and still lives in 

^ Marduk corresponds to Quetzalcuatl, God of the East, in the Mexican 
Tonalamatl ; see fig. 51. 

^ Comp. pp. 90, 137 f. In the arlicle " Nebo" in Röscher I have referred to the 
original precedence of Nebo, without having recognised the connections, as they 
have now been clearly stated by Winckler, for example, in B.F., iii. 277 flf. See 
also Zimmern, K.A.T., 3rd ed., p. 402, and comp, 399; he, however, errone- 
ously takes Marduk and Nabu tobe "possibly identical originally." 

^ Kintr, Bab. Mairh\ 18. 



THE PANTHEON— NEBO 137 

the religion of the Mandaeans who exist to the present day in 
the swampy districts of the Euphrates and Tigris and on the 
frontiers of Persia, whose Redeemer-god, Man-dä-de hajje or 
Hibil Ziwa, is identical with Marduk, Conqueror of the 
Monsters of Darkness. 

To conclude, we give an extract from another hymn to 
Marduk of Babylon which surely belongs originally to Eridu 
and contains interestino- reh^ious thoushts : ^ 



Marduk, thy name brings prosperity to man ! 

Marduk, great Lord, by thy supreme command, 

May I be whole and well and so praise thy Godhead ; 

As I desire, so may 1 attain it ! 

Put truth ifito mi) moiäh ! 

Lei good fhoiights reign in my heart ! 

Satellite and guardian,^ inspire good ! 

my God, walk at my right band, 

and at my left hand ; 

my shield, stand by my side ! 



Nebo 

In the astral System Nebo represents the west, or winter 
half of the year, in the age of Taurus.'^ His star is Mercmy, 
which rules the west point of the zodiac according to the 
doctrine of Babylon, in Opposition to Marduk-Jupiter.* As 
we have already reniarked, he played the part in earlier ages 
which, after the siipreniacy of Babylon, was taken by Marduk. 
Nebo-Mercury is the morning star which announces the new 
age ; see p. 74. In poems of the wars with the Elamites 
preceding the age of Hamniurabi, Nebo is called " Guardian of 

^ Hehn, Hymnen an Marduk, No. 13, A.B., v. ; see Zimmern, A.O., vii. 

" Probably two children of the gods, like Kettu and Mesharu, Right and 
Justice, who stand by the side of Shamash. 

■^ Therefore it is said of him, for instance, upon the sacred statue in Kelach, 
' ' The devastating, sublime child of Esazil (Temple corresponding to the Overworld, 
or Summer half of the cycle), dweller in Ezida (Temple corresponding to the 
Underworld, or winter half of the cycle ; also called ' House of Night')." 

"• Comp, p, 29. 



138 



BABYLONIAN RELIGION 



the World." ^ In times when the Assyrians had reason to 

eraphasise a political Opposition to the Marduk hierarchy of 

Babylon they willingly raised Nebo into prominence. So 

Adadnirari III. says : " Trust in 

Nebo, trust not in another god " ; 

see fig. 52. Assurbanipal also very 

willingly favoured him unduly.^ And 

in modern Babylonia (Nabopolassar, 

Nebuchadnezzar, Nabonidus), when 

they loved archaisms and wished to 

mark a new age, they always said 

" Nabu and Marduk,"' instead of the 

earlier " Marduk and Nabu." 

The records also show that origin- 

ally Nebo bore the Tables of Destiny, 

but in the age of Marduk he becomes 

only the Scribe of Destinies -^ — the 

art of writing, transmitted to man- 

kind, is ascribed to him (" the wisdom 

of Nebo"), so making him nearly 

related to Ea-Oannes. As god of 

the winter half Nebo is also God of 

the Underworld and Guide of the 

-^ v'—j Dead — the Babylonian Hermes. Bor- 

^j^.jJi sippa, sister city fco Babylon, is the 

Fig. 52.— The so-called Nebo pi^^e of worship of Nebo (see Isa. 
Statue of Adadnirari III. ^ '^ 

xlvi. 1). His temple was called 

Ezida, also " Hou.se of Night" (see pp. 29, 137, n. 3), and the 

temple tower E-ur-imin-an-ki, that is, "Temple of the seven 

Mediators of Heaven and Earth," the ruins of which are called 

Birs by the natives, and Birs Nimrüd by " Franks." 

Upon Nebo in cults other than Babylonian, see article on Nebo 
in R.P.Th., 3rd ed. 

1 Nabi\ pa-Jdd kish-shat is written in the text, Sp. 158 + Sp. ii. 962, Rev. Z. 25, 
translated by Pinches {Transaci. of the Victoria Inst., 1897, p. 89) ; comp. 
Hommel, Altisr. ÜberL, 183. The time of the wars is very uncertain. 

^ vSee the "Liturgie auf Nebo " in Röscher, Lexikon der Mythologie, iii., 
Sp. 16 ff., before mentioned. 

" P. 136. Pesikta, r. 96«, calls him "Scribe of the Sun " (E. Bischoff). 




THE PANTHEON— NEBO—NERGAL 139 

In the Old Testament we meet with Nebo, besides in Isa. xlvi. 1, 
as the divine scribe, Ezek. ix. 2 f., in the name of the mountain 
Nebo in Deut, xxxii. 49 f., xxxiv. 1 and 5, and in the sacred 
city Nob. Probably a city of Nebo is also referred to in Numb. 
xxxii. 3, 38 ; Isa. xv. 2 ; Jer. xlviii. 1, 22 is Moabitish ; another 
(^^^? ^n^), Ezr. ii. 29, x. 43-, Neh. vii, 33. 

Nergal 

According to the Babylonian theory of the manifestation of 
the divine power in cosmos and cycle, Nergal represents the 
Underworld, or lowest part of the cycle. In so far as he bears solar 
character he raanifests himself in the winter sun, and in so far 
as he bears lunar character, in the waning moon. In so far as 
smi and moon in Opposition represent Overworld and Under- 
world, he is identical with the sun (winter sun in the Under- 
world, winter solstice). His name signifies Ne-uru-gal, " Lord 
of the great Dwelling-place/' that is, of the realm of Death. 
He is also Lord of Plague and Pestilence. In the Amarna 
Letters, for example, the plague is called " the hand of Nergal." 
His place of worship was Kutha, which was perhaps the Baby- 
lonian city of the dead. The locality of the city is unknown ; ^ 
it is always spoken of together with Babylon and Borsippa. 
The Underworld is directly spoken of as Kutha, and the Erish- 
kigal legends relate how Nergal is King of the Underworld." 
In the texts from the age of the Arsacidse, which have been 
repeatedly mentioned (pp. 29 f. ), it is said : 

On 1 8th Tammux Nergal descends into the Underworld^ on 
28th Kislew he ascends agaiii. Shamash and Nergal are one. 

In an exorcism it is said : ^ 

Thou shinest in the heavens^ thy place is high ; 
Great art thou in the realm of Death^ there is 
none that is like unto thee. 

When Nergal becomes god of the summer sun it is because 

^ It is usually taken to be Tel Ibrahim ; see Hommel, G.G.G., pp. 340 f. 
" Comp. "Hölle u. Paradies," A.O., i. 3, 2nd ed. 
^ BöUenrücher, Gebete an Nergal, No. i. 



140 BABYLONIAN RELIGION 

of his change with Ninib, who, when in Opposition at the 
summer solstice, is at the place in the universe belonging to 
Nergal.^ V. R. 46 says that in the Western lands Nergal is 
called "Sarrapu,"' burner, scorcher. This certainly relates 
chiefly to the sun, secondarily to fever. IV. R. 24, 54=^ he is 
clearly named Gibil, the " Fire-god with Glowing Mouth." 
Also his " visage of fear '' is often spoken of. As god of the 
glowing sun Nergal appears represented by the Hon, as Marduk 
is by the bull. In the description of the gods '^ Nergal may be 
meant by the following : 

Horns of a bull^ a hairy mane falls down his back (?) ; the 
face of a man and lefu of a . . . . wings .... his forefeet and body 
of a Hon, which [vests] upon four feet. 

This agrees with the colossal lions, placed upon door intrados, 
and which are called nir-{?)gallu in the time of Sargon and 
Sennacherib. Also one sees from the so-called Dibarra legends., 
in which the God of Pestilence, i.e. Nergal, changes himself 
into a lion, that the lion is Nergal's beast. Amongst the four 
planets which are connected in the Babylonian system with the 
four Corners of the world, Nergal is equivalent to Saturn, or, in 
the exchange of oppositions, to Mars.^ 

NlNlB 

According to Babylonian teaching, Ninib is the counterpart 
of Nergal. In so far as he bears solar character, he manifests 
divinity in the summer half of the cycle, especially in the 
summer solstice ; in so far as he bears lunar character, in the 
o-rowing raoon. In so far as sun and moon in Opposition repre- 
sent Underworld and Overworld, he is identical with the moon 
(füll moon at summer solstice). In the zodiac the fire-realm is 
his, through which all must pass (fire of purgatory !) in ascending 

1 Also because Nergal, like Ninib, is God of War and of the Chase. 

2 CT., ix. 121. 

3 Later Saturn changes with Mars, see p. 26 ; the Mandrean lists of 
planets indicate Mars with riJ and '^'yM; see articie upon Nergal in R.P.Th., 
3rd ed., where also are mentioned instances of Nergal spoken of outside 
Babylonia. 



THE PANTHEON— NINIB 141 

to the heaven of Anu.^ The phenomenon of meteoric showers ^ 
probably aided their Imagination in this. When the sun coraes 
into Ninib's reahn (now August, formerlj summer solstice) is 
the time of meteors. K. 128 says ; "Hghted fire, which burns 
the[. . . .]." 

As qurad ilani, " Hero-god " and Celestial Huntsman (nioon 
motif), Ninib is God of War and of Hunting. But just as 
Nergal changes place with Ninib, so does Ninib with Nergal. 
When it i.s said, "Thou speakest from the AraUu,'"' it niay 
mean either the summit of the mountain of the world or 
the Underworld.^ 

In the Story of the Flood fchere appear Avith Anu and Bei "their 
herald Ninib, and their guide Ennugi," therefore the two planetary 
gods of misfortune : here Ennugi, contrary to Jensen's opinion, 
may well he Nergal, notwithstanding Shurpu, iv. 82. 

^ Compare the passages from Berossus, which mark the summer solstice point 
as the point of the fire-flood, pp. 69 f. ; and comp. p. 31. Whilst in Luke xvi. 
26 Heaven and Hades are divided by a great gulf, I am told by E. Bischoff that 
in the second Century a.D. the Rabbinistic view was that there is only one finger's 
breadlh between them, as between Heaven and Hell in the Koran. Hades 
certainly in many respects resembles purgatory. (Similarly, in Grimm's Mäirhe7i, 
Heaven and Hades are close together, and also purgatory, "the place of bide-a- 
wee .... where good soldiers go.") Still the old notion held its place, of a 
hell under the earth, a realm of death— the Sheol idea amplified. 

- II. R. 49, Nos. 3 and 51 ; No. 2 says Kakkab DIR = ;«zZ7Vn7;(z//, " the descent 
of fire." This may be the ideogram for meteoric showers. But it seems as though 
here, line 41 ff., it is speaking of Kaimanu-Saturn, and that previously Nergal- 
Mars, the planet of red light, is meant. 

■' Upon the identity of Ninib with Tammuz and, on the other band, with the 
hostile power (Ninib = Ninshah as boar, who kills Tammuz), see pp. 96 and 
125 ff. Compare further the legends of Amyntor (Mars-Ninib), who slays the 
boar of Adonis. 'fhyKacos, one of the argonauts, is killed in July (summer solstice) 
by a boar ; he was a vineyard keeper (motif of ihe New Age, see ß.A''. T., 31 ff.). 
According to Herod., vi. 134, sacrifices of swine were made to the rescuing 
Demeter (winter solstice). 



* 



CHAPTER III 

nox-biblical cosmogonies 
Babylonia 

I. A Bahylon'ian Histonj of the Creat'ion ^ 

The sacred house, the house of the gods, in a pure place (that 
is, suited for religious purpose), had not yet been niade, ^ a reed 
had not budded forth, a tree had not been grown, oa brick had 
not been laid, a foundation had not been built, ^a house had 
not been niade, . a settlement had not been made, a throng did 
not exist, (.Niffer had not been made, E-kura had not been 
built {i.e. the sanctuaiy of Bei), - Erech had not been made, 
E-ana had not been made {i.e. the sanctuary of Anu !), t, Apsu 
("the ocean" that of Ea),^ had not been made, Eridu (the 
sanctuary of Ea) had not been built ; 9 as for the sacred houses, 
the houses of the gods, their seats had not yet been made ; 
jgthe whole of the lands were still tämtu (sea, primeval chaos), 
j^ the solidity of the Island was (still) a river of water (that is, 
there were no islands) : ^o then Eridu was made, E-sagila was 

1 British Museum, S2-5-22, 1048. For comparison with the first chapter of 
Genesis this text is nios-e iniportant than the purely mythological story in the 
seven tablets of the epic Enuma elish. This text, interpreted and for the first 
time translated by Pinches in The Jotir7ial of the Royal Asiatic Society, 
1891, pp. 393 ff-, is a so-called "bilingual" one ; it has been recently re- 
peated in the C. T. , viii. 35 ff. It certainly descends from very ancient times, 
though we only possess the modern Babylonian copy. In the above analysis 
it is re-edited as a glorification of Marduk of Babylon. Zimmern, K.A.T., 
3rd ed., p. 49S, under b, speaks of a "hymn" upon the Creation. It is 
evident from K.T., pp. 98 f., where it is presented as the record upon which 
the legend of Creation Enuma elish is founded, that Winckler recognised the 
importance of the text. 

" Hamnitirabi Code, ii. i f., (Z/y/? = Eridu. 

142 



BABYLONIA 143 

built (the kingdom of Ea), ^3 E-sagila, where in the midst of 
the ocean the god Lugal-du-azaga dwelt (that is, Marduk of 
Eridu, according to the foUowing and preceding passages) ; 
^^ [" Babylon was made, E-sagila w'as completed "]/ ir^the 
Anunnaki (this must be here a general term for the gods as 
children of Anu) were all made together, ^g the sacred city, the 
dwelling-place, the joy of their hearts, supremely he had pro- 
claimed (that is, created). -^^ Marduk bound together a founda- 
tion on the surface of the waters ; ^^ he made masses of earth, 
and piled them together for the foundation (epiri ishpzck).'^ 
So that the gods might dwell upon it in joy of heart, he created 
mankind ; '^ ^i Aruru created with him the race of man,'' „^ beasts 
of the field and living creatiires of the wilderness, 03 he made 
the Tigris and Euphrates, set them upon the earth {ashru).^ 
24 Well proclaimed he their name (täbish). 25 Grass (?), the 
plant of the meadow, reed and sumach trees he made, 26 ^^^ 
made the \'erdure of the field, 27 the lands, the meadows, and the 
marsh. „s '^'^^*^ ^^^1*^^ cow, and her young, the calf, the sheep and 
her young, the lamb of the fold, 29 the meadows and the forests, 
30 the goat and the gazelle (?) .... it. 31 The Lord Marduk 
raised a platform upon the surface of the sea, 30 whilst he ... . 
made of reed and dust, 33 a .... he caused to be, 3^ [reed] 
created he, wood created he, „. . . . . upon the earth {ashru) 
he created ; ..,, [he laid the brick], he laid the foundation, 
37 [he built a house], he built a settlement, he created 
communal life, [he built NifFer ; he built E-kura, he built 

^ This is a comraent, introduced by the scribe possibly at a relatively early age, 
in Order to transfer the Creation to Marduk of Babylon, as originally in the epic 
Enuma elish, Marduk of Eridu, son of Ea, is meani (comp. pp. io6ff. ). The 
comment has, up to the present, made difficulties, in many directions resulting in 
errors. Jastrow, in Bei of Babylon, 447, has recognised the glossatorial character 
of the passage. 

- Compare the description by Herodotus of the building of the walls of Babylon, 
Chap. XI. The conlinent arises as the Island in the Tiber does in the Roman 
fable in Livy, and as in the Jewish fable, where Rome is built with reeds and clay 
mixed with water of the Euphrates ; see Grünbaum, " Beiträge zur vergleichenden 
Mythologie," Z.D.M.G., xxxi. 183 ff. 

•^ Man therefore is created for the sake of the gods ; it is precisely so in the 
Enuma elish. Plato, Symposium, xv. , treats this view with irony. 

■* For Aruru, see p. 1S2. 

° For Ashru, Celestial Earth (here Terrestrial Earth), see pp. 117, iSo, and 250. 



144 NON-BIBLICAL COSMOGONIES 

Erech], he built E-ana .... (the text is broken ofF; the 
following liiies would certainly have related the creation of the 
earthly Eridu with Esagila). 

To understand the text note as follows : — First, universal chaos 
is described : there was as yet no heaven (Hne 1 ), nor any earth 
(line 2 fF.), everything was still water. Especially was there no 
temple ; then the sanctuaries of the ehief divine triad (Bei, Ann, 
and Ea) are mentioned (lines 6-8). Without further evidence 
Winckler is not right in taking line 6 fF. to mean the cosmic places ; 
K.T., 98, n. 1. For what in line 6 fF. is not yet there (Nippur, 
Erechj, is created at line 39 fF., and here the terrestrial doniinion is 
clearly meant, though the cosmic places are in the mind of the 
narrator and he knows that the temples are earthly enibodiments 
of the divine kingdom ; comp. 57 f. This is &;hown at line 8 by the 
name apsil being used for the sanctuary of Ea, Eridu, comp, line 
I '5, where this cosmic place is explicitly named : Esagila in apaft 
as dwelling-place of the demiurge. Line 1 ff. may thei-efore be 
taken thus : there were as yet no dwellings of the gods and also no 
Settlements of men. In the beginning all was "sea" (line 10, 
tchntu, comp, lidmat, Dinn). In this Tehom the celestial world 
was next created: (l) Eridu with Esagila, the celestial realm of 
waters line 12 f . ; out of these waters rose the celestial over- 
world, comp. p. 6, n. 1. (2) The celestial kingdom of Ann, the 
" sacred city " and "dwelling-place of the Anunnaki " here 
probably meaning the children of x\nu in general ; line 15 f 
(3) The celestial kingdom of Bei, the celestial earth, the zodiac 
(shupuk shame, pp. 9 ff. ; compare the verb at line 18, ishpiik). For 
the comfort of the astral gods he created men. The creation 
of man, plants, and animals is proleptically related : line 31 fF. 
first the creation of the earth, which like the celestial earth arises 
by mixture of eai-th with reeds, solid land being built upon 
the waters with the mixture. Then follow, line 37 f., the earthly 
sacred cities. 

It results from the eharacter of such epic pieces prefacing 
exorcisms that they merely indicate facts, taking previous 
knowledo-e for granted ; inevitably therefore there is a want of 
clearness, which may perhaps also be ascribed to the exigencies 
of translation. 

The building of cities is placed at the beginning of the world 
as in Genesis, in the story of Cain, builder of cities (Gen. iv. 17). 
In another text of Creation (170) seru and alti, "desert" and 
"city," are placed vis-a-vis. 



BABYLONIA 145 

II. The Seren Tahlets of Creation, ep'ic Emuna elish 

Tahlet I 

When the heavens above were not yet named, 

beneath the earth {(immatum) not yet named by name,i 

"whilst Apsu and the co-ruling son and fathei- Mummu (and) 

Tiamatj who bore them all, 
their water united in one — - 
when a reed platform had not yet united itself and a reed 

bank had not yet arisen ; ^ 
when of the gods none was yet created, 
a name not named, a täte not yet appointed/ 
the gods emerged in the midst of the . . . . ^ 
Lahmu and Laljamu were created .... 
the lengths of time (?) were great .... 
Anshar and Kishar were created .... 
tlie times were long extended .... 
Ann their son .... 
Anshar Ann .... 
And Ann . . . . 
Ea, whose fathers, generator .... 

We can partially Supplement the last fragment froni the De primis 
'■j^ pri/icipiis (125)^ of Damascius : "The Babylonians pass over the 

^ That is to say, did not yet exist. Name = thing and person, as in Hebrew. 
The "name" of the deity is the most powerful form of exorcism ; see B.N.T., 
pp. 104 ff. If the sorcerer learns the " name " he takes possession of the person. 
This is important for the comprehension of passages like Isa. xliii. i, and most 
impovtant for understanding the form of instructions for baptism. Possibly Ps. 
cxlvii. 4 may be considered in this light. 

'^ The passage is mutilated ; in the text Mummu comes in the wrong line ; 
comp. Stucken, Astralmythen, i. 57, M.V.A.G., 1902, p. 66, and comp, 
above, p. 8, n. 2. In fragments which have since come to light, Mummu is 
explicitly stated to be the son of Apsü, and Damascius gives evidence of the same. 
Tiamat is the vvife of Apsü ; and Mummu ( = Kingu) begets the universe with bis 
mother ; comp. pp. 6 f., S9, n. I. The rhapsody quoted above only hints this; 
comp. p. 144. 

■^ This passage, which has been alvvays erroneously held to refer to the growth of 
trees and has been placed in connection with Gen. ii. 5, really means to say : no 
land had yet been formed upon the waters. This is incontrovertibly .shown by 
line 17 f. of the text analysed above. 

■* That is, there existed neither celestial nor terrestrial beings. 

= " Of the sea" must be understood. Damascius says Tauthe (Tiamat) was 
held to be Mother of the Gods by the Babylonians. Comp, the text, p. 187, where 
Tiamat suckles animals. As in the text quoted above, the Demiurg creates 
heaven, earth, and mankind from Apsü, the ocean, so here the theogony con- 
summates itself in Apsü. 

'^ Comp, p. 8. 
VOL. L 10 



146 



NON-BIBLICAL COSMOGONIES 



great First Cause in silence ; they hold^ however, that there were 
two Original Principles, Tauthe and Apason (Tiamat and Apsu), and 
niake Apason the mate of Tauthe, calling the latter Mother of the 
Gods. Their only son is Moymis (Mummu), which I take to mean 
the Spirit of the Universe, as he proceeds from the two elements. 
From him Springs a new generation^ Lache and Lachos (Lahmu 
and Lahamu) ; and then a third, Kissare and Assores (Ki-shar and 
An-shar). From these three proceed : Anos, IllinoS;, and Aos. The 
son of Aos and Danke is Bei, whom they hold as scnlptov of the 
World (Demiurgos)." 

The following fragment relates liow there arises strife in 
the World of srods 



Apsü and 




Fig. 53- — Dragon combat. Assyrian seal 
C)'linder (Jasper). 



Tiamat and Mummu, son 
and " mate "" of Apsu, plan a 
rebellion against the newly 
arisen world. Tiamat, 
" Mother of the God.s," 
takes the lead. The cause 
of strife is '■ the Way,'' 
that is, the actions of the 
new World of u'ods. Ea 



interferes very decidedly ; it appears he " slays ''" (haräbu) Apsu 
and binds Mummu. Tiamat prepares herseif for the final 
struggle. She creates eleven monsters ^ and gives to one of 
them, Kingu, who now Stands beside her in place of Apsu, the 
Tablets of Fate. 

At this point the story is taken up by Berossus in his legends 
of Creation.2 In passages about the combat they record only the 
rupture of Tiamat, and with that the acts of Creation come to a 
close. 

Berossus says there was a time when all was darkness and water, 
and therein arose wonderful and curiously shaped creatures. Men 
with two, and sometimes four^ wings and two lieads, some male 
and some female, and some with both male and female Organs ; ^ 
also otherSj men with goats' legs and horns, others Avith horses' 

^ They are the eleven signs of the zodiac (comp. Scorpio-man, Fish-man, Ram). 
The twelfth is sometimes lost in the sun. Kingu is here Lord of the eleventh 
sign, as later Marduk. 

^ According to Alexander Polyhistor in Eusebius, C/iro/n'c. , i. , ed. Schoene, 14 ff. ; 
Müller, Fragm. hist.gr., i. 497 f. Latest translation in K.T., 2nd ed., 100 f. ; 
K.A.T., 3rd ed., 488 f. Berossus was a priest of Marduk in Babylon under 
Antiochus Soter (281-262 B.c.). 

^ Compare the astral-mythological nieaning in Plato, SyniJ'osiuiii, xiv. (F. 
Israel). 



BABYLONIA 147 

feet. and again others Avith the hind-parts of a horse and the fore- 
part of a man^ like Centaurs therefore. Also bulls with the head 
of a man and dogs with four bodies ending in a fish tail, and horses 
with dogs' heads^ men and beasts with heads and bodies of hovses 
and fish tails. and other animals with mixed bodies of beasts. 
Besides these there were fish and creeping things and snakes and 
all kinds of wonderfiil animals with mixed bodies. Their pictiives 
are to be seen in the temple of Bel.^ Over them all reigned a 
woman named Omorska, which is in Chaldean thamte, in Gveek 
signifying '•' sea " {06Xaa-<ja), of the same numerical valne as 
creA7;7^;;.^ When all was created Bei c:ame and cut the woman 
in two and from one half niade the earth and from the other 
half the heavens^ destroying the beasts. 

Tills is an aUegonj of naturej' When all was still primeval nHiler 
a)id beasts lived therein, tliis gocl stnick off liis own head and the gods 
inixed the blood trhich Jio?red with earth and {so\formed man. This is 
jvhv man has reason, and divine iinderstanding. But Bei, wiio may be 
designated 7.eus. divided the darkness ihrough the middle and separated 
earth and heaven and so formed the iiniverse. The beasts, however, 
could not bear the light and perished. 

When Bei saw the eavtli empty though (}) fruitful^ he com- 
manded one of the gods to decapitate him and to mix the flowing 
blood with earth and form men and beasts who would be able to 
bear the air. Bei also formed the constellations^ as well as sun^ 
moon^ and the five planets. Related thus^ according to Alexander 
(Polyhistor), by Berossus \\\ the Babi/loniana. 

Tahlet IL Ea reports this rebellion to Anshar. Neither 
Anu nor Ea can give any help, and Marduk takes upon himself 
the combat, demanding as prize of victory the right to rule 
over destiny ; Fate (that is, the Order of the universe) is to 
be ordered anew after his victory, and he himself will then 
govern, as the others have done hitherto. " Nothing shall be 
chane'ed of what I create, nothing shall be retroo-ressive ; no 
command from my lips shall perish."' 

It appears therefore that the universe of Apsü and Tiamat, the 
condnct of which is given into the hands of Kingu with the Tablets 
of Fate^ is at enmity with_, and opposes, "the Way," the rule of 

1 Temple of Merodach Esagila. Agum II. (1650 b.c.) presents the same 
picture. Figs. 28 and 58 show pictiues from the gates of Babylon, which belong 
to the cycle of myths of Marduk. 

'' We therefore recognise the astral motif of Solar Lunar combat ; comp. p. 150. 

'-'■ The passage printed in italics belongs to another aspect ; it is the simplest way 
of showing the coherence. We get really two records. In that printed in italics 
the two parts, creation of man and creation of heaven and earth, must be transposed. 



148 



NON-BIBLICAL COSMOGONIES 



the gods Lahmu-Lahamu. Anshar-Kishav, and Anu-Ea. The place 
of Kingu in the old universe is taken by Marduk in the new seon 
fo]lowing the conquest of Tiamat. Consequently^ upon the last 
tablet and elsewhere the titles of honour are given hini : " He 
who jaities the plight (?) of the imprisoned gods, he who destroyed 
the yoke of the gods, his enemies." He is called Tu-tu, which 
is explained K., 2107, 9, as " Begetter of Gods, Renewer of God" ; 
see Hehn, A.B., v. 288. 

Tahlct III. Anshar aiinounces by a messenger to the divine 
pair Lalimu and Lahamu, the rebellion of Tiamat and the offer 
of Marduk. They call an assembly of gods, and after a 
banquet Marduk is entrusted with the combat. The next 




Fig. 54. — Dragon combat. Seal cylinder, comp. fig. 53.^ 

tablet says he shall, after victory, " receive the kingdom and 
reign over the infinite All." The gods, his fathers, promise 
him the position of Bei, and at the banquet they invest him 
with the Tablets of Fate. 

Tablet IV. Marduk proves the creative power of his word 
by making a garment - disappear and again reappear, and then 
arms for the combat. He goes forth to meet Tiamat in a four- 
horse chariot, armed with bow, arrows, and quiver, with the 
■■' weapon of god"" in his right band, with "lightning" and net.^ 
The chief weapon is called abnbu.^ A host of winds follovvs 

'' In the first German edition of the present werk, p. 54, fig. 54, a reproduction 
was given of a seal cyHnder in the author's possession, repiesenting a combat 
between a winged genius and two-winged diagons to right and left of him. 
Experts are doubtful of the genuineness of the cylinder ; in such cases it may be 
left an open question whether it is not an antique imitation used as an amulet. 

- We shall speak of the cosmic meaning later ; see pp. 177 f. 

^ Comp. Ezek. xii. 13. 

■* It is undoubtedly the strife between Light and Darkness, as Berossas also 
expressly presents it ; the motif of the solar-lunar combat is especially meant ; see 
pp. 38 ff. and 110 ff. But abübu is not " light-flood," as Zimmern, like Jensen, 



BABYLONIA 149 

him. Kingu and his partner are amazed. Tiamat .Stands forth 
with chaJlenging words (!) Marduk rebukes their rebellion and 
says : " Come, thou and I will fight together."' When Tiamat 
heard this she became frenzied with rage, and then Marduk 
enclosed her in his net and slew her, driving a wind into her 
throat and shooting an arro\v- into her body, and he " cast down 
her corpse and stood upon it."" He made prisoners of the hostile 
gods,^ and bound the eleveu monsters ; he wrested the Tablets 
of Fate from Kingu, and laid them upon his own breast. Then 
he cut the corpse of Tiamat in two, like a fish, and used it, as 
we may supply from Berossus, to build the universe.- 

The half of her he raised iip^ and let it overshadow (?) the 

heaven^^ 
pushed a parku (properly speakinij, bolt^, i.e. the zodiac) ^ before, 

placed Avatchers ^ here^ 
her (the iipper half) water not to let out/' he commanded them. 
The (just described) heaven founded (?) he as Opposition to the 

Ünderworld {a.shratum), 
placed it over against the apsfi (celestial ocean)^ the dwelling- 

place of Ea.~ 

holds. The water-flood, which without doubt is personified by Tiamat, is not in 
contrast to a lighi-ßood, but, in the course of the ages, to a flre-flood ; see index, 
under " t'ire-flood," and comp, p, 178. 

^ See Isa. xxiv. 21 ff. Upon this motif comp. figs. 33, 46, and see p. 183, ii, 

^ See n. 3. Much of this detail is very indefinite. We must remember we are 
dealing with a poem, not with a scientific statement. In one place Tiamat is 
Primeval Chaos, in another a part of the universe presented mythologically ; comp, 
pp. 179 f. _ 

^ Astronomically this means : he placed Tiamat in the northern heaven ; in the 
mythological sense she is herseif the northern heaven ; see n. 2, above. 

"* Compare raqia', Gen. i. , which divided the waters that were above from the 
waters that were beneath, and the pn (boundary), Ps. cxlviii. 6, which is placed, 
that the waters that are above may not pass beyond their limits. In Gen. vii. 
II the adiihba (barrier) is taken avvay and the Upper and under waters flow 
together. 

•'' These are the Zophasemim, the zodiacal signs of the new universe created by 
Marduk. In Zimmern, p. 496, the passage remains uninterpreted. 

^ This does not refer to rain, but to the celestial ocean surrounding the zodiac. 

" Berossus says : Bei divided Tiamat in two, and made the earth out of one half 
and the heavens out of the other. This must be the meaning of the obscure lines 
here. Compare also the notice of the final hymn which says that Marduk built 
the tauninu; a mythological name for "earth" [tainuim), as remarked by 
Fr. Hommel, G.G.C., pp. 85 and 86, n. i, reminiscent of the Monster of 
Chaos (comp. Numb. xvi., the rabble of Korah, " the earth opened her mouth and 
swallowed them up"). Comp, further Ps. Ixxiv. 13, "Thou didst divide the 
sea" (parallel : " the heads of the Tanninim in the waters"). 



150 



NON-BIBLICAL COSMOGONIES 



Then measured the Lord the fonii of the apsu 

and erected as a grand building according to bis pattern 

E-sharra,i 
the grand building E-sharra, which he built as heaven, 
Anu^ Belj and Ea he allowed to take their dwelhng-places.' 

Tablet V. Creation of the celestial bodies, foundation of the 
"■ Corners of the world,"" and course of tlie nioon, see pp. 12, 30 f. ; 
and 1 13, where the passages concerning this are analysed (creation 
of plants and animals). 

Tahlet VI. begins with the creation of man ; see pp. 182 ff. 

Tablet VII. extoLs Marduk, who receives the fifty nanies of 
honour ; see pp. 31 and 134. 




.-■i^ 



r^^": 



V'^^MM 










Fig. 55. — Dragon combat. Seal cylinder, Brit. Museum. 

Hidden behind the myth upon -which the poem is founded are 
astrological speciihitions and observations of nature. Tiamat is 
the water, that is to say, the winter region of the zodiac through 
which the sun annually passes (four signs in division by three^ six 
in division by two, in oj:)position being the four or six signs of the 
Summer region). Marduk fights with Tiamat. The end is the 
V- spring equinox^ when Marduk^ having bound the waters, again 
returns to the land. This natural phenomenon is the parallel to 
the celestial occuri'ence of the spring moon rescued from the 
dragon meeting the victorious spring sun ; comp. pp. 37 f. For 
this reason Berossus reckons that thalassa has the same numerical 
value as selene ; see p. 147. The weapons (bow and arroAvs) indicate 
the sun motif in Marduk. 

In the Deluge myths the mythological idea of a flood of 

^ See Job xxxviii. 5: "Who laid the measures thereof (the eailh), who hath 
stretched the line upon it?" 

^ This Esharra, which includes the realms of Anu, Bei, and Ea, is the true 
Olympus. It is the seven-storied tower thought of as above the zodiac (comp, 
pp. 15 f.), the celestial harsag-kurkura. 



BABYLONIA 



151 



water replaces Tiamat. Marcluk of Babylon appears here as 

Demiurgos, as in the history of Creation gi\en at pp. 142 f. 

It should be noted that in 

the epic the universe built by 

Marduk has been preceded by 

an a?on during \vhich the world 

was peopled not with nien bat 

with gods, who were at strife 

together. Between the pri- 

me\al universe and the world 




Fig. 56. — Fragment of a seal c)-linder 
in the collection of R. Stewart. 



of man Marduk's combat with the dragon takes place. The 
dragon in the north heaven ^ corresponds to him, and his anti- 
thesis in the south heaven - is the water serpent. Another text, 
Rm. 282, seems to teil of a combat with this serpen.t. The 
combat with this monster, pictured in the heavens hi BeTs rcalm, 
is fought by one of the gods, after others have manifested their 




Fig. 57. 



-Snake combat. The so-calied William:-; seal cylinder, 
Brit. Museum. 



powerlessness : and, as in the case of Tiamat, the victorious god 
receives the sovereignty. The episode is here separated from 
the creation of the world and placed in the historical heroic 
age, both men and cities being in existence before the fight. 
The fragment runs as follows : ^ 

^ Since the combat of Tiamat refers to the passage of the sun through the 
water region, naturally every celestial water-animal, hydra, draco, serpeiis, and 
cetns, may correspond to Tiamat. 

^ We may conjecture that Kingu, who has disappeared fiom the fragments, 
played the same part in the Tiamat combat. Or is Kingu the fire-breathing dragon, 
who plays a great part along with the water-dragon (Tiamat), in the myth in all parts 
of the world ? Theoretically he should be looked for in the furthest north heaven. 

^ Last edited by Hrozny, V.A.G., 1903, pp. 264 ff. Hrozny sees in Labbu a 
personification of the mist. This is quite inconceivable mythologically, and the 
' ' drawing upon the heavens " shows clearly that it is referring to an astral 
phenomenon. 



152 NON-BIBLICAL COSMOGONIES 

III. The Combat tcith Labbii^ 

(Front) : Cities groaned, mankind .... 
mankind mourned [. . . .]; 
lipon their cry of woe .... not .... 
lipon their roaring .... not .... 

who is 7mish[ga/hi] ? ^ 



ga/lu] ? 

the pictiire of Labbu] : ^ 



Is Tämtu (the sea) the musk 

Bei drew lipon the heavens 

His length is 50 miles, 1 mile [his head]^ 

h gar his mouth, 1 gar . . . ., 

1 gar the girth . . . ., 

5 gar wide [....] a bird he [. . . .] 

9 ells he trailed in the waters .... 

[and] raised up his tail .... 

All the gods of heaven .... 

In heaven the gods bow before .... 

to others . . . . of Sin (raoon-god) .... they haste 

" Who will go and [kill] Labbu 

Rescue the wide land .... 

And exercise sovereignty . . . ? " 

" Go hence, Tishpak (Ninib),^ slay Labbu, 

deliver the land .... 

And exereise sovereignty . . . ! " 

" Thou hast given unto me^ O Lord^ the creation (r) of the 

river . . . ., 
I know not . . . . of Labbu 



(Back) : . . . . opened his mouth and [spoke] to . . . .. 
•' Let clouds rise up, .... the tempest, 
.... his seal before his face, 
. . . . (?) 5 and slay Labbu : 

' CT., xiii. 33 f. We give the text in füll because it illustrates the poetic 
passages of the combat with Rahab and Leviathan in the Old Testament. 

^ This may be so supplemented as Hrozny suggests, according to a parallel 
passage. In the hymn to Ninib, II. R. 19, Ninib's weapons are compared to 
the uiushrushshu täiiUiin, " the raging (Jensen : red-gleaming) Sea Serpent," and 
previously with the innshmahhu, the " Great Serpent" with " seven heads " ; 
comp. Zimmern, K.A. T., jrd ed. , 504, and see in Isa. xxx. 6 ; also comp. p. 154. 

' I interpret the three last lines as Zimmern does. The passages following show 
that Bei drew a picture of a serpent. 

■* The scene is laid therefore at the north point of the universe ; see p. 151, n. 2, 
and comp. pp. 30 f. 

^ uskamma, issukaviina from nasßku ? In the epic of Nimrod the verb signifies 
" to bend " (the bow), in the Tiamat myth also it characterises the combat: 
issuk vmlimilla. Possibly here it is also a combat terminal. Jensen, K.B., vi., 
and also Hrozny, interpret it "descend " (from heaven in cloud and storm), but 
it is not certain. 



BABYLONIA I53 

And he let clouds rise up . . . . the tempest 

. . . . his seal before his face, 

.... and slew Labbu. 

3 years and 3 months day and [nightj 

flows away the blood of Labbu 

IV 

We may also note here,, first the remarks in re2:ard to the Creation 
m er., xvii., fig. 1 (see Meissner, M.T.A.G., ^1904^, 222 ff.), and 
Weber Literatur, pjD. 59 f. : 

" After Anu had [created the heavens], 
lieaven created earth, earth created the rivers, 
the rivers created the pits, 
the ahme created the serpent/' etc., 

the serpent appeared weeping before Ea, begging food and 
wine. Juice of the date palni and of the hashhur tree will not 
content him ; he must suck the teeth and marrow of men. In- 
structions for curing toothache are annexed. 

V 
K, 133, Rev. i. (Hrozny, M.F.A.G., 1903, 42 f.): 

the King Anu, who created the Earth 

VI 

The text, Berlin 13987, 24 ff. (Weissbach, Misze//e>/, Taf 12, 32), 
where the priest recites at the building of a temple : 
When Anu had created heaven, 
Ea created the ocean, his dwelling, 
Ea pinched off clay in the ocean, 
the god made bricks for repairing .... 
made reed and wood (?) for foundation of the building 
the god created servants . . . . to finish the work of bullding .... 
he made mountains and seas for creatures of all kinds . . ^ '. 
the god made goldsmiths, smiths, and jewellers .... 

he made high i)riests of the great gods, to fulfil the laws, 
he made the king to establish .... 
he made men to [bring offeringsl .... 
.... Anu, Bei, Ea. 

The " Combat with the Dragon " is often represented upon 
seal cyhnders (figs. 54-59). It gave füll scope for fancy, 
and it is not always possible to identify the pictures in detail 
with any particular form of the myth. How they portrayed 
the "Dragon of Babylon" with which Marduk fought, and 



154 



NON-BIBLICAL COSMOGONIES 



which is therefore Tiamat, Monster of Chaos, we now know 
from the excavations made in Babylon bv the German Orient- 
gesellschaft : it is a dragon-like monster with a snake's head 
and two horns. The mixed creature therefore miites the 
ideas of snake and dragon. The enamel reliefs of the gate 
of Ishtar represent the monster Walking (fig. 58), in the 
picture of Marduk belonging to the decoration of the 




^'^iWSlQ 



I ' ' •'v-=f»a 

Fig. 58. — Dragon {umshiushshü) brick relief from the Ishtar gate, Babylon. 

seat of a throne (fig. 33) it is lying down, as upon the 
" boundary stone.s '^ (figs. 2-5). Agumkakrime records that 
in the temple of Marduk in Babylon, near the picture of 
Marduk, he also placed the mushrushslin : this niust mean the 
Monster of Chaos. ^ In later times the Assyrians transferred 
the myth to their chief god Ashur. An inscription on a 
building of Sennacherib says that on the gate of an Assyrian 
temple called " House of the New Year Festival " (hit akiti) 
the combat is represented in ironwork (" work of Ea, the smith 



^ P. 151, n. 2, 



PHCENICIA 



155 



god '') ; Ashur rides against Tiamat in the war-chariot carrying 
the same weapons as the epic ascribes to Marduk, accompanied 
by other gods, on foot aiid in chariots.i The well-known relief 
from Niinrud representing a combat with a winged^fnionster 
(fig. 59), also probably relates to Ashur's combat with one of 
the monsters of Ancient-Babyloiiian astral mythology. 




Fig. 59. — Dragon combat. Relief from Nimrud-Kelacji. 

Phcenicia ^ 

In hi.s Pr.xjiaratio Evangelica, chap. x.^ 

Eusebius says, with regard to the Ancient Phoenician cosmogony 
transmitted, according to the Statement of Philo of Byblos, by 
Sanchuniathon : — as primeval principle of the universe he places 
dark air, fertilised by the Spirit, or dark air and a slimy dark cliaos ; 
these were boundless and infinite for long ages. Biit when the 
Spirit (Pneuma) flamed into love for his primeval ]:)rinciple and a 
connection ensued,^ Sanchuniathon says that this embrace was 
called Potbos (sexual instinct). This is the principle of the 

^ See Zimmern, Kciliiischrifteii und Bibel, p. iS, note. The text K. 1356 is 
intended, translated by Meissner and Rost, Die Baiiinsehriften SatiJieribs, pp. loi f. 
but it is incorrectly interpreted in this passage. 

" Comp. Herder, "Ideen zur Philosophie der Geschichte der Menschheit" 
{Kr it. Ausg. des Bibel Instituts, iii.), pp. 315 f. 

■■ It is certain that Philo of Byblos has drawn from an old Phoenician source 
and that the cosmogony is pure Phcenician (even if not of the authorship of David's 
contemporary Sanchuniathon) in spite of the critical difficulties which are all set 
forth in Lukas, Grundbegriffe der Kos/nogonien, pp. 139 ff, For the text see 
Sanchuniathonis fraginenta, ed. Orellius, Leipzig, J. C. Hinrichs, 1826. 

^ This may correspond to the ßabylonian Mummu. 



156 NON-BIBLICAL COSMOGONIES 

creation of all. The Spirit did not know his creation (that is, he 
was not in conscious being), but from this embrace proceeded Alof ; 
according to some that is mud, according to others a foul, Avateiy 
mixture (slime), and from this was engendered the universe. 
There were, however, certain beings without consciousness ; from 
them proceeded beings endowed with reason, who received the 
name of Zoi^hascmin (a better reading is Zophesamim), that is to 
say, Walchers of the Heavens,^ and their form was that of an eg^ 
(the elhptical form of the zodiac?)^ and there shone forth Mof,^ 
sun and moon, the stars and the gi'eat constellatioiis. 

Then it relates how living beings arose : 

When the air had become suffused with light, there arose 
fire, water, and sea ; winds, clouds, and great eruptions and floods 
of celestial waters. And after they were separated and torn away 
from their original places by the flaming of the sun, everything 
met together again in the air and crashing against each other 
produced thunder and lightning, and in these crashing thunderclaps 
awoke living beings, terrified by the noise, and so there rested 
lipon the earth and in the sea masculine and feminine Life. It is 
recorded in the cosmogony and commentaries lipon Tauthe ^ how 
the iinderstanding of it all illiiminated his mind. 

Eusebius adds that after he had explained the names of Notos 
and Boreas and the other winds he continues : — '' These Avere the 

^ Comp. Wincklev, A.O., üi. 2/3^, pp. 26 f. In Diodoros, ii., the thirty are 
thirty-six decani, see p. 12, n. 2. Zimmern, K.A.T., yd ed., p. 629, misses the 
authentic evidence in the inscription. We find it in the IVatchers, who, upon the 
IVth table of the Enuma elish, watch over Vne parkti ; see p. 149. 

" We must not instance this passage in favour of the idea of an Egg of the ivorld 
in Phcenician cosmogony. It is true that a cosmogony of fhc " Sidonzanr,'' dating 
back to Eudemos, but at variance with Philo, recorded by Damascius — de prim. 
prin., c. 125 — (Kopp's edition, p. 3S5), speaks of an Egg which proceeded from 
primary matter when desire {Xl6dos) had united itself with the nebulous element 
('OjUi'xXi;). Also the P/ucnician cosmogony according to Mochos, mentioned by 
Damascius, ib., speaks of the Egg of the world : From AlQiip and 'Ai^p proceeded 
Ulomos, the intelligible vovs ; from him again proceeded Chusoros, the inteiligible 
^vvaiJiLS ; hereupon foUowed the Egg, which exploded and became Heaven and 
Earth. We meet with the Egg again in late Chinese and Japanese cosmogonies ; 
see p. 167. 

^ Here also, therefore, as in Gen. i., light exists before the creation of sun and 
moon. The conception seems to be that light came into existence with the 
creation of the zodiac. In fact this Mot, like the Mot before-mentioned, is not 
clear to us. 

•* Tauthe is later (see p. 157) described as the discoverer of the art of writing 
the history of the First Cause. It seems that the Egyptians called him Toot, the 
Alexandrians Toyt, the Greeks Hermes. He is Nebo. The records of the First 
Cause are the Tables of Fatc, which before Marduk were in the hands oi Nebo ; 
see pp. 50, 137. 



PHCENICIA 



157 




• 60.— Clay model of a Phcenician temple 
(Louvre). Ohnefalsch- Richter, Die Bibel, 
Kypros tmd Homer, clx., 3rd ed. 



first to bless the germs of the earth, tliey believed in the gods 

and bowed the knee before their Makers, they themselves, as 

well as their successors and their predecessors, and brought meat 

and drink offerings " ; 

and he adds : ^' These 

[sumething before this 

viK.st have been omilted^ 

were the root-thoughts 

of the prayer, corre- 

sponding to tlieir weak- 

ness and their despond- 

ency. Then^ so it is 

saidj there proceeded 

from Kolpia = Avind and 

his wife Bau^ which 

many call Night^ the 

mortal men named Aion 

and Protogonos. Aion 

took his nourishment 

from the trees ; tliose 

generated by them were 

named Genos and Genea. These lived in Phoenicia, and as it was 

very hot, they lifted their hands to heaven, to the sun, holding 

him, so they say, to be sole Lord of Heaven, and they named 

him Beelsmnen} who is Lord of Heaven amongst the Phoenicians, 

amongst the Greeks, Zeus." 

In the presentation of the divine genealogies follo^ving this 
is another passage of interest : 

'' From these (the Titans) are descended Amynos and Magos, 
who taught hov/ to live in villages and tend herds ; from them, 
Misor and Sydyk,- that is, The Honest and The Just, who discovered 
the use of salt ; from Misor, Tavthe, who invented writing and 
recorded the history of the First Cause." ^ 

1 Aramaic form of the Phcenician Baalsamim, Hebrew G'Cty "^yn. 

- Compare the Babylonian tables of ritual, and lists of gods, two chil- 
dren of Shamash : Kettu and Mesharu, Right and Judgment, represented in 
the Psahn poems as the pillars of the throne of Yahveh (Ps. Ixxxix. 14), 
and appearing symbolised in the two pillars to right and left of the temple 
gate at Jerusalem ; Jachin and Boaz (i Kings vii. 21 ; compare the oldest picture 
of the Temple in Riehni's Hafidwörterbuch, p. 1650), with which one may 
compare the two obelisks at the entrance of every Egyptian temple of the sun 
and the little Phcenician temple reproduced in fig. 60. The ascent to the 
temple represented the zodiac. The pillars are east and west points (Marduk 
and Nebo), the two solstices, or north and south point according to the orientation. 
Also the two watchmen at the gate of the heaven of Ana in the Adapa myth, and 
Tammuz and Giszida, belong to this cycle of ideas ; see p. 126, n. i. 

'■' See p. 156, n, 4. 



158 NON-BIBLICAL COSMOGONIES 

Egypt 
AVe have already repeatedly spoken of the identity of the 
Egyptian teaching witli the system of the Ancient-Orient.^ 
The doctrine of On gives evidence of the universe divided into 
three parts ; see fig. 1. Here, too, in theory celestial is hke 
terrestriaL The " land " is a reflection of heaven. Hence the 
repetition of geographica! names having a cosinic nieaning in 
Upper and Lower Egypt. And it was because of this theory 
that the idea was held fast that the source of the Nile was at 
Elephantine (place of worship of Khnum, who corresponds to 
the Babylonian Ea) even in times long after Khartoum had 
been reached. But we find also a populär view which looked 
Lipon heaven as well as the Underworld as a reflection of the 
World, that is to say, of Egypt : - 

1. Earth ; i.e. a country with water, Islands, and canals, 
naniely, Egypt. 

2. Heaven ; this was represented like Egypt as a country 
with water, Islands, and canals. There are no pictorial repre- 
sentations, but the texts of the Pyramids testify to this. 

3. The World of the dead as counterpart to the earthly world. 

In other presentn:ients^ no doubt originally local, the dead are 
thought of as alive in heaven, and in othevs again as alive lipon 
earth in the West, occasionally also in the North. 

There is no text which gives a coherent account of the 
Creation. We find only scattered references. 

The cosmogony is like the theogony. In the legends of 
the destruction of mankind (the so-called " Cow Books "), the 
Sun-god talks with Nun (Primeval Waters) : 

Most ancient God^ 

From whom I am derived ! 

Before this he has called upon all the gods who were with 
him in primeval time in the waters, Nun (!). 

Further, loe find in Egijpt a mytli of a snake-comhat 

^ Comp. pp. 4, 86, 92 ff. Fuller detail in my wiitings: " Die Panbabylonisten " ; 
"Der Alte Orient und die Aegyptische Religion"' {!/ii Kampf n»i den Alten 
Orient, Wehr zmd Streitschriften, edited by A. Jeremias and H. Winckler, ist 
vol.), 2nd ed., 1907. 

- Communicated by Professor G. Steindorff, Füll detail is given by VViede- 
mann, "Religion of Egypt," in Hastings' Dictionary, Suppl. vol., 176 ff. 



EGYPT 159 

and nexc-bmlt universe zohich only records in other laords 
ichat the Babijloman mytli teils of Marduk and the dragon 
and the Demiurg. The Theban Amon corresponds exacthj in 
his being and -cvorhs to Marduk of Babylon. 

After the expulsion of the Hyksos Thebes became the 
capital of a united Egyptian kingdom, and as the priests of 
Babylon founded the claim of that city to universal rulership 
Lipon the record that Marduk was conqueror of the dragon 
and Creator of the world, so the priests of Thebes appear to 
have done in the case of Amon. Everything which has been 
nmde clear froni the texts of Amon ^ is identical with the 
Marduk doctrine. Like Marduk, the Babylonian king of 
gods, Amon is " of friendly heart to them that call upon 
him." Amon-Re is the " living lamp, shining forth from 
the celestial ocean." It is said of Marduk : " First-born of 
Ea {i.e. Ocean), like the Sun-god thou lightest the darkness 
of mankind." Amon-Re is the "Bull of Heliopohs" as 
Marduk is the " Bull of Babylon.'' " He combats Apophis '' 
as Marduk does Tiamat, and like Re ''his eye makes his 
enemies to fall," which recalls the sun devouring the stars. 
" His hosts rejoice when thev behold how the enemy (the 
serpent Apophis) is fallen, how his members are flayed with 
the knife, how the fire has devoured him .... the gods 
rejoice, the hosts of Re are glad.'' As conquering Sun-god 
he became Creator, Preserver, and Nourisher of all. He built 
the World, like Marduk after his victory over Tiamat. " He 
commanded, and the gods were made ; he is the Father of 
Gods, it is he who made man and beast. ... It is he who 
made the green herb for the beasts and fruit for man ; he 
made food for the fishes in the streams and for the birds 
under the heavens,"" etc. In an Amon hymn from Cairo, 
transmitted from the time of the twentieth dynasty, but which 
certainly uses older material, it is said : 

I. 5f. : Highest of Gods, Lord of man, Father of Gods, who hast 
created iiian and beast, Lord of all that is, who hast created 
the Tree of Life, who hast made herb and friiit-trees to 
nourish the cattle. 

^ Erman, Religion der Ägypter. 62 f. ; comp. pp. 91 ff., above. 



160 



NON-BIBLICAL COSMOGONIES 



IL 7 : Hail to thee, who vaised the Heavens and [fouuded ?] 

the earth.^ 
IV. 7 : Atunij who created man, Avho vaised their kind (?) and 

niade their life^ who divides their colours, one from 

another. 
VI. 3 : Man proeeeded from liis eyes and the gods from his 

mouth. 

The Deit^• is always praised as Creator and Preserver of 

everything in the world 
however small (e^■en of 
vermin and mice). 

What is here said of 
Amon is said elsewhere of 
Khnuni or of Thoth. The 
conceptions vary in Thebes, 
Heliopolis, and Memphis. 

The"Great Nine"of On^^ 
proceed from the Primeval 
Ocean as in all the theo- 
gonies and cosmogonies of 
the East. Earth-god Keb 
and Heaven - goddess Nut 
Fig. 6i.— The Egyptian god Khnum modeis embrace in the Primeval 
;r,™ple°",.LL^„:""' """'• "*"" Water. {co„,p.Mu„,mu and 

Tiamat, pp. 6 i.) tili Shu 
raises the Heaven -goddess ; see under n. 1, below. 

Sun-god 

Shu — Tefnet 




Keb 



Nut 



To these are added Osiris (Moon) with Isis his sister-wife, 
and his hostile brother Set with his sister-goddess Nephtys. 

1 The cosmic idea is represented thus (see fig. i) : The Earth-god lies upon 
his back, and the Heaven-goddess, upon whose body the stars are drawn, lies 
over him and is raised and supported by the Air-god Shu so that the Earth-god is 
enclosed between the tips of her fingers and the tips of her toes (the horizon) and 
her star-spangled body hangs vaulted over him. In some representations the Ship 
of the Sun floats upon the back of the Heaven-goddess. 

- Comp. Erman, /oc. cit, p. 30. They correspond to a week of nine days. 
Upon 9, see p. 66. 



IRAN AND PERSIA 161 

The ''Great Nine" correspond to a lesser nine : Horos, son of 
Isis, identical with Osiris^ and eight gods, who protect him 
from his enemies. For the triad Sun, Moon, Hathor-Isis, see 
p. 89. The creation of man is presented as the work of a 
potter, man being modelled upon a potter's wheel.^ 

Iran and Persia 

The theology of Zarathustra, dating from the sixth Century 
B.c., is connected with a more ancient reho;ion. This rehffion 
also, so far as it can be reconstructed from the Avestic 
literature, taught the doctrine of an evolution of worlds, com- 
pleting itself in a combat against the Powers of Darkness. 
Zarathustra raises fire into prominence, his picture of the 
universe emphasising the North Kibla, the fire point,^ in 
Opposition to Babylonia, where the south point, apsü, is 
eraphasised as the point from whence the development of 
the universe proceeds (p. 33).^ 

The ancient Persian cosmogony^ can be reconstructed from 
the Avesta, which is the name of the Iranian sacred writings, 
signifying, perhaps, " knowledge."*^^ Zend is the translation 
into medieval Persian from the age of the Sassanids, and is 
identical with giiosisJ In this name we meet with a funda- 

^ Husbaiid and son both. In the Babylonian mythology, mother and son 
generale the new world ; see p. 7 and p. 89, n. i. 

" See fig. 62. Eusebius, Pmp. ev., i. 12, mentions a similar picture. 

•^ Pp. 23 and 32. The doctrine of the Universal Conflagration proves that the 
Avestic teaching knew of the cycle of the world in connection with the zodiac ; 
see p. 163. 

^ This perhaps throws light upon the stories of the Origin of things in the 
religion of Zarathustra. By analogy with other religious movements it would 
certainly show a reformatory contrast to the existing teaching. Was this existing 
teaching the Babylonian doctrine ? Note the detestable role played by Babylon 
in the epic ; see p. 164. 

^ Upon the füllowing compare Lehmann in Chantepie de la Saiissaj/e, 3rd ed., aiid 
Jackson in the Handbook of Iranian Philology. Its connection with the Ancient- 
Oriental doctrine is not known by either of them. Jackson does not satisfactorily 
separate ancient doctrines from later innovations. 

^ Thus according to Hang (V vid=to know). According to Justi, avesta^ 
afstaka, " metrical " (book). 

'' According to Information given by Professor Dr Lindner. The usual Inter- 
pretation of Zend-Avesta as "Tradition of Wisdom" is not correct. I am 
indebted to Dr Lindner's Information for the Statements upon the Avestic teaching. 
VOL. I, 11 



162 NON-BIBLICAL COSMOGONIES 

mental idea of Ancieiit-Oriental teaching; all knowledge is 
latent in the Origin of things, is of divine origin, and religion 
rests lipon the transniission of and keeping uncorrupt tliis 
knowledge. 

So far as we know it, the cosmogony of the Avesta says 
nothing about Primeval Chaos. The World of Light, created 
by Ahuraniazda, is threatened by the World of Darkness, repre- 
sented by Ahriman, as in the Babylonian cosmogony the world 
of Anshar is threatened by Tiamat and Kingu. The World of 
Light is placed as an antithetic creation to the World of 
Darkness. Between the two is a void space (in the Avesta 
vayu^ in the Pahlavi texts räe), which is the stage for the 
meeting and combat. 

According to the most important work of the Pahlavi litera- 
ture, the Bundehesh {I.e. First Creation), transmitted late, the 
teaching of which is founded upon old lost Avestic traditions, 
the combat completes itself in a series of ages. Upon the 
"infinite age"" follows "the ruling age of the long period," 
twelve thousand years, which Ahuramazda has determined for 
the rule of the hostile powers, 4 x 3000 years. Before each 
thousand is placed a s'ign of the zodiac. This disposition of 
the ages cannot be located in the Avestic writings at present 
available. But Plutarch, Is. et Osiris, c. 47 (following Theo- 
pompus), gives evidence of it in Persia. 

1. Three thousand years of spiritual creation. Duriug this 
time the pure spirits were created.^ 

2. In the second three thousand years Ahuramazda creates 
the six Amshäspands, three on each side of him ; each one of 
the seven is accompanied by the triad Sun, Moon, and Tishtrya. 
']''hey sit upon golden thrones, and in the calendar of the priests 
a month (double month ?) is sacred to each one, and one day of 
the month to each one (according to Plutarch there were also 
twentv-four " others "' added to the six, therefore thirty spirits 
of the month). When the dedicated day and month feil simul- 
taneously they held a festival day. The six daeva - are opposed 

^ According to Jackson "the heavenly prototypes." A previous appeai'ance of 
Ahriman is driven back by the sacred 7yö;vf of Ahuramazda. 

^ Asmodeus in the Book of Tobit ; /.e. Avestic acsina daeva, Demon of Fury. 



IRAN AND PERSIA 163 

to the Amsliäspands, three on each side of Ahrinian. Ahura- 
niazda also created (1) heaven. (2) watei-, (3) earth, (4) | -^j^ 
plants, (5) aniinals, (6) mankind. He was helped by the ' 
Fravashis, beings belonging to the original spiritual creation. • 
and the go\ernnient of the world was divided between theni. 

3. In the third period of three thousand years Ahrinian 
appeared. He destroyed everything, killed the beasts which ' 
were alone upon the ea.rth before the creation of nian,^ and 
Primeval Man. Froni their seed, clean.sed and fertilised by the 
action of the sun''s light, arose, after their death, aninial and 
human life. The infernal legions which accompany Ahriman 
are then vanquished by the heavenly spirits, and this is the 
Golden Age. Ahuramazda charges Yima- to guard and to 
teach the sacred doctrine. He refuses, not being capable 
of it, and then he is coniniissioned to guard the creatures.^ 
This is the age of undecided strife, and in this period the 
Deluge is placed. Yinia is charged to rescue all that can 
be rescued. He hides the rescued in a walled-in place, not 
in a ship.'* 

4. In the fourth period of three thousand years Zarathustra -^ 
appears and l)rings the divine teaching. Now the Deliverer is 
expected, and every thousand years a new prophet is to come. 
At the end of all things all the dead shall arise, Ahuramazda 
shall conquer Ahriman, and out of the Universal Conflagration 
a new, clean world shall proceed. The metals in the earth 
shall be melted, hell shall be destroyed by flre. Nothing shall 
remain of Ahriman, there shall be no more sin of which he 

1 The Bull of JNIinos slain by Theseus is explained by this. Upon the First 
Man and the Aboris^inal Bull and their mylhs. comp. Hüsing in GöWs ß/y//io/oo^/e, 
8th ed.. p. 310 f. The First Man lived upon the Mountain of the Gods (later = 
Damaevand), which Stands in ihe sea and upon which the Tree of the world 
grows ; see p. 211. 

- Yima is Lord of Paradise ; see p. 230. According to Hüsing, /oc. dt., 313, 
he corresponds to the moon, which is not dead after dying. 

''• Vendidad, ii., see Geldner's translation Zischr. ; further, coxa^'dx& Sprachfor- 
schung, XXV. 181 f. Vendidad is a part of the Avesta. Ancient ritual, beginning 
with cosmological chapters, and ending with eschatological observations. 

■* See Lindner in the Fcstgnisz für Roth, 213 ff. ; Oldenberg, Rel. der Veda, 
276, refers this tradition also back to Babylon, contrary to Lindner. 

° He corresponds to the First Man. and is therefore the new Adam. For this 
reason the mvth of Persecution is transferred to him ; see Hüsing, loc. cit., 311. 



164 NON-BIBLICAL COSMOGONIES 

has beeil the cause. The wicked also are saved in the great 
apokatastasis. 

Thus, therefore, the cosmogony and the teaching about the 
ages of the universe correspond to the doctrine of the eyele of 
the universe. When the cycle of the universe arrives at the 
fire region comes the regeneration of the world ; comp. pp. 70 f. 
But the combat also is an astral connection. On Ahriman's 
side stand seven evil planets.i According to the Bandehesh the 
evil Stars clash together \vith many demons in the heavenly 
spheres. Ahuramazda brings the seven under his dominion and 
gives them nexo names, his own amongst them. And then 
they are held in restraint by the good stars, the Watchers of 
heaven (amongst them Tishtrya), and they all help to guard 
the door of the ünderMorld.- Along with this purely astral 
teaching we frequently find the combat presented as a fight 
with a clragon. The Achasmenid sculptures picture it. One 
of the oldest myths preserved in the Avesta (in the sacrificial 
songs of Yasht) describes the combat of Atar (fire) with Azhi ^ 
Dahaka, the dragon, out of whose Shoulders grow two snakes. 
Elsewhere the fight with the dragon is undertaken by Tishtrya. 
He appears in all manner of forms, as a beautiful youth, as a 
white ox with golden horns, as a white horse. In this form he 
fights with the black horse, the demon Apaosha. The object of 
the fight is the Lake Vourukasha, cosmic source of all floods ; 
Ahuramazda helps, that the streams may flow o\er the earth. 

The snake monster Azhi üahäka is a son of Ahriman and 
Uda. In the epic he is conquered by Feridun (the Avestic 
Thraetona), who chains him under the mountain Damävand, 
after he had reigned in Babylon (!)3 for one thousand years. 
At the end of the world he will again get free, finally to be 
destroyed by Keresäspa, who was killed and has come to life 
again. In another m3'th the "horned dragon" Azhi Srvara is 

1 Thus Jackson. The cycle of the seven planets is iherefore divided in two 
halves. Each half of the universe has seven planets (slep-tower ascending and 
descending according to " Babylonian" presentment). 

2 How clearly the meaning of the myth is shown here : Cycle through day and 
night, Summer and winter, year of the universe. 

^ In the Avesta öaivri is the dwelling-place of the Dahäki (Yasht, v. 29). Justi 
interprets bazvri as Babylon (erroneousiy, according to Dr Lindner), 



INDIA 165 

killed bv Keresäspa. In a third he kilLs the horned monster 
with stone hands, Snävidhka, who had boastingly declared that 
he would destroy heaven and earth, and even Ahuramazda and 
Ahriman. Keresäspa reappears in the Persian national epic 
Shahnameh as the raystic king and deliverer Rustem, whose 
horse (see Zech. vi. 1 ff.) represents the ages of the world. 

Ikdia 

The tenth book of the Rigveda, dating possiblv from the 
oldest Brahman age, contains 1^29 hymns lipon creation.^ 

Then there was notliing tliat is, neither anytliing that is not, 
neither che air, nor the heavens beyond it. Who has so mightily 3^ 
veiled all this ? Where, in whose' care were the Waters* the 
fathoniless abyss ? 

Then there was neither death, nor immortality, neither day nor 
night. Solitary and alone brooded the One (Tad,^ This), by himself 
alone, unnioved by any wind ; beside him there was no other. 

Darkness was there, covered with darkness was this All in the j 
beginning of infinite Water. The Power shrouded in empty Space 
was brought forth by the might of the brooding Contemplation 
(Tapas). 

First to come into being was the Will (kama), original seed of 
the Spirit was he ; the wise discovered the relation of that which 
is to that which is not, after they had sought after it in their hearts. 

The cord was drawn from one to the other by them, whether 
it were below or whether it w^ere above. There were fertilising 
Beings, there was Night, spontaneous being upon one side, effort 
upon the other side. 

Who may know it in truth, who can teil it, from whence, or 
where was born this creation ? Hence are come the gods sent by 
This (Tad), biit who knows from whence he himself is come ? 

He, upon whom this creation rests, who has created or not 
created, who is their upholder in farthest space, only he is it who 
knows it, or also he knows it not. 

Hymn x. 190 records how the world evolved from out of 
Tapas (brooding Contemplation) : 

From the brooding Tapas proceeded the Law (Ritam) and Truth 
(Satyam) ; thereupon arose Night and surging sea. From the 
surging sea was born Time (Samoatsara), which established Day 
and Night, and which has power over all that the eye rests upon. 

In this Order the Creator built sun and moon, heaven and earth, 
air and the realm of Ether. 

^ Lukas, Kosuiogoiiicii, 66 ß". , and the works cited there. 



166 NON-BIBLICAL COSMOGONIES 

Hymn x. 72 presents a theogony which recalls tlie eniana- 
tions of the Babylon ian primeval world : 

In the time of the first gods that which is was born from that 
which is not. From this woman's travail arose heaven's deep and 
starry space. The world arose from this travail, and from the 
world arose the starry space. 

This woinan in travail is Aditi ; she generates Adityas in the 
Primeval Waters. Tad differentiates himself into both these. 
Aniongst the seven Adityas \vho carry on the government of 
the world the highest is Varuna. Another is bis friend Mitbra, 
Here again the astral doctrine sbows plainly. Varuna is the 
moon as simimus deus, Mitbra the sun ; ^ the remaining five 
Adityas are the five planets. 

Dawn appears as tbe maiden Usbas, pursued by the youtbful 
Sun-god. 

The twins Asbvin, ligbt- and bealth-bringing, wbo draw the 
cbariot of tbe sun but are never both to be seen at the same 
time, are tbe Morning and the Evening Star. 

Rigveda, x. 90, records the evolution of the world : — From the 
primeval being Purusba arose beasts, woods and villages, the 
songs of Rik and Saman, Metra and Yajus; horses, beasts with 
two rows of teeth, calves, goats and sbeep. From bis mouth 
came the Brabmans, from his arms tbe warriors, from bis thighs 
tbe peasants, from his feet the Sudras ; from his spirit came the 
moon, from bis eyes the sun, from his mouth Indra and Agni, 
from bis breath Yuju ; from his navel came the air, from his 
head the heavens, from bis feet the earth, from his ears the 
Cardinal points. 

China 

According to the Chinese poet Küb-Yüan (died 294 b.c.),"^ 
w^ho used sculptures and traditions of South China, tbere was 
" in tbe begimiing no form above or below,"' tbere were only 
"pictures" (!). In the Shan-hai-King he unites traditions 
about the making of tbe river courses into canals with cosmo- 
logical speculations. A winged dragon is the sign of the river 
courses ; tbe rivers themselves appear as nine-headed dragons, 

^ See Oldenberg, Religion der Veden, 185 ff. ; comp. p. 30. 
"^ I am indebted to Professor Conrady for these facts. 



JAPAN 167 

slain by Yi'i, who erected a building from their blood. The 
sa)iie poet harps upon a realm of giants, about which Lich-tze 
(fourtb-fifth c-cntury b.c.) gives fuller detail. A primeval eniperor 
fights with Kung-Kung, who pushes against the Puh-tschon 
mouiitaiii (Pillar of Heaven), hews down the colunins of heaven, 
and cuts the bands of the earth. Therefore the stars flow west- 
wai'd, and the rivers eastward, until the serpent-bodied Empiess 
Kü-Kna repairs the damage with " five-coloured stones" (!) ^ 

The Y-King explains the sixty-four line signs of the mythical 
Fohi. The primeval antithesis in the world is expressed in the 

complete light line — and in the broken dark line =~— — — . 

z^ziz i'>'Pi"esents pure Yang, Heaven, the all-stimulating and all- 
enlightening world of light. Opposed to this is ^^^ , 

pure Y"in, the dark, pregnant Earth. The lowest Yang line is 
expressed by the \\ater dragon. Heaven is the father, Earth is 
mother. By the niingling of the two arise the " thousand 
things."" But both these are Matter ; Reason is represented by 
man alone, especially by the emperor, who rules for heaven, 
and upholds the unchangeable order of the world, equilibrium 
in multiplicitv.^ Later myths, probably under Indian influence, 
speak much of the ^gg of the tcorld. 

Japan 

The cosmology of the ancient Japanese religion also teils of 
the Egg of the world : '• In old tinies, when heaven and earth 
were not yet separated, when gloom (Ju) and brightness (Joo) 
were not yet divided, there was Tai-Kijok, primeval aether : 
it was a mixture, like an egg. The brightness floated, being 
lighter, outward and upward and became heaven ; the heavy 
gloom sank away downwards as water and became earth."" ^ 

The chief record of the Shinto religion is Kojiki, codified in 
712 A.D. "according to ancient traditions." It teaches the 
"way of the gods""! which Kötaku (645-654) rejected when 
he accepted tlie teaching of Buddha. It refers the present 

^ A later saga, perhaps Coming from South China, records the story of Päk-Kü, 
who moulds the world out of chaos, or from whose body the world is made. 
- See Wuttke, Kosntogonie der heidnischen V'ölker, i6 ff. 

^ See Wuttke, loc. cit. ; Lange in Chantepic de la Saussayc, Rel. Gesck, 3rd ed. 
■* Upon the conception " way," see p. 146. 



168 NON-BIBLICAL COSMOGONIES 

World back to the twins Izaiiagi and Izanami.^ At the bidding 
of the gods these two, standiug upon the Bridge of Heaven (!), 
dipped a spear made of precious stoiies iiito the muddy waters 
of the chaotic Primeval Flood, and froui the drops of water 
falling from the spear arose the first Island. At the birth of 
the Fire-god, Izanami, daughter of the sun, dies, descends into 
the Underworld (Yomi), whither Izanagi follows her, in order 
to bring her back to the Overworld.^ The " hateful gods " of 
the Underworld persecute him, and, to save himself, he throws 
his head-dress, then a comb, and lastly, three peaches behind 
him.^ When he washes himself from the stains of the Under- 
world there arises from the washing of his eyes, the sun 
(feminine) and moon, from the washing of his nose, Susanos. 
From Susanos the Emperors are descended. 

Etkuria 

We find the following in Suidas, s.v. Tvpptjncu as Tuscan ^ 
teaching, gathered from the Tuscan history-book : 

" The Demiurg ordained twelve thousand years of life for 
the World, and placed each thousand under the dominion of a 
sign of the zodiac. Creation continued during six thousand, 
and the duration will be six thousand. In the first, heaven and 
earth, in the second the firmament, in the third sea and waters, 
then the two great lights, the souls of beasts, and lastly man 
was created." 

In Otfried Müller, Die Etrusker, ii. 38 (edited by Deecke), 
it is generally assumed that the Tuscan doctrine is founded 
upon the Biblical story of Creation. This conclusion was 
tenable so long as the other Ancient-Oriental records were 

1 The double-peaked mountain (moon and sun) in Tokio is consecrated 
to them. 

" P. 38, n. I. 

" We find traces of this motif in all parts of the world. It gives a fundamental 
blow to the thesis of an elemental idea (comp. p. 4). We may also add the refer- 
ence in the Papyrus d'Orbinay, where, in the story of the brothers, there is evidence 
of the same motif. 

•* Latins and Umbrians call the people who settled in Etruria Tuscans. Greeks 
call them Tyrsenian or Tyrrhenian. For the inscriptions of Lemnos, comp. Torp, 
Die V07'griechische Inschrift von Lemnos, Christiania, 1903 ; also Hommel, 
G.G.G., 240. 



ETRURIA 



169 



unknown. The Etruscans were sui'vivors of a seafaring people, 
and caiiie froin Western Asia. The relationship with Biblical 
cosniogony, which is e.stablished by its agreement with the ages 
of the World and the zodiacal cycle, has its foundation here 
also in the common doctrines of the origin of the world and of 
the ages of the world. The duodecimal ajons of the East are 
divided into niillenniums, as in the teaching of Zoroaster ; see 
p. 162. 

The Etruscans show traces of the Ancient-Oriental wisdom in 
other directions also. The SihyU'me oracIes,^ burnt in 83 b.c., 
which correspond to the Books of Fate (see pp. 49 ff.), showed 
the forn, of ancient Babylonian Omina : " when this happens," 




Fig. 62. — Theophany. From a gold ring found Fig. 63. — Zeus, nourished by the goat 
at Knossos. Amalthea (?). Found at Knossos, 

fourteenth Century B.C. 

etc., in Opposition to the newer productions (comp. Kautzsch, 
Pseudejngr., ii. p. 178, ng. 2). They niay be traced back to an 
Etruscan origin. In like manner the systematic emphasis of 
the number twelve (and the sescenties adopted by the Romans) 
corresponds to the Ancient-Oriental System. In the history of 
the Roman wars twelve states are spoken of into which Etruria 
was divided ; likewise in the country of the Fo and in the 
Etruscan campaigns. But historical research strives in vain 
to count twelve federal members, there were always more ; see 
MiUler-Deecke, i. 320. Also the founder of the twelve towns, 
in Etruria proper as in the country of the Po, named Tarchon, 
son and brother of Tyrrhenos, eponymous hero of the " urbs 

' The Leipzig Dissertation (1903), by Wulker, Die geschichtliche E7itwickelHng 
des Pi-odigiemvesens bei den Kölnern, offers new raaterial in regard to this subject 
without laying any stress upon it. 



170 NON-BIBLICAL COSMOGONIES 

florentissiina " of the Tarquins, is a mythical figure of Oriental 
character. Finally we may here note the Etruscan soothsaymg 
from slieep's liver which is related to the Babylonian custom.^ 

The evidence here given in regard to the Etruscan s' know- 
ledsre of Ancient-Oriental teachins; naturallv includes also the 
otlier civilisations along the Meditemmean Sea. Here only the 
discoveries in Knossos and Ilion are referred to, in regard to 
which fig. 21 (pole of the world) and figs. 62 and 63 suggest 
questions to which we shall recur in another passage. The 
" Babylonian '' character of these presentments has been treated 
by Milani, Bibbia prehabeUca {Studi reUgios'i, vol. vi., 1906). 

NORTHEIIN COSMOGONY 

Froni the songs of the Edda, and the Edda drawn from these 
by Snorre Sturluson, we gather the following presentment : 

In the Völuspa the Völve teach mankind, Heimdars conse- 
crated race, about primeval ages : In the beginning there was 
neither sand nor sea, nor cold wave, neither earth nor heaven, 
only Ginnungagap ("the yawning chasm," primeval chaos), 
^ nowhere any grass, tili the sons of Bur raised the crust of the 
earth out of the sea and made Midgard, the world inhabited 
by man. 

I require obedience from the sacred races^ 

from Heimdal's children, high and low ; 

Father Odin wishes it^ so I will relate 

the stories of the cid time^ from earliest remembrance. 

To the ancestral giants my memory goes back, 

who before the ages begot me ; 

nine worlds do I know, nine Spaces of the tvee of the world, 

which is rooted deep in the midst of the earth. 

It was in past ages, when Ymir lived : 

There was then no gravel, nor sea, nor cold wave ; 

no earth was there, nor heaven above, 

only yawning abyss, but grass nowliere. 

^ Comp. fig. 63 with Ezek. xxi. 21 ; and Zimmern, Beiir , S4, K.A.T., ßrded., 
605 ; upon the Etruscan liver, see Boissier, Note sur itn doctiment bahyl., Geneve, 
1901 ; according to Boissier the first syllable of the word hanispex has for root 
the Babylonian Har, liver. Hittite clay livers inscribed with cuneiform characters 
vvere discovered by H. Winckler in Bazhazkoi. For füll particulars upon this 
subject, see Religion Babyloiiiens und Assyrien, Jastrow. 



NORTHERN COSMOGONY 171 

Theu lifted up Bur's sons the land 
and created the beautiful Midgard. 
from the south the sun lighted the ground^ 
then grew green plants upon the ground. 

The sun from the south, accompanied by the moon. 
touched with right hand the edge of heaven ; 
the sun knevv not where she dwelt, 
the moon knew not what power he had, 
the Stars knew not what places they had. 

Then went all the gods to seats, 

tlie sacred rulers, and took counsel : 

they named the night, new moon and füll moon, 

morning and evening, mid-day and vesper, 

all the thnes for the counting of the yeai-s. 

In the north of Ginnungagap it was icy cold, in the south it 
was hot. In the north was NiÜheim and the spring Hvergehnir, 
from which fiowed twelve rivers of water and niist. In the 
south was Muspellsheim, the bright, warm place. By the 
interminghng of the two arose the giant Yniir. From Yinir 
comes the race of giants (those of the heroic age preceding 
the flood !) From the sweat under his left arm there arose a 
pair of giants, and his feet generated the six-headed giant 
Thrudgelmir. From the dripping frost there arose also the 
cow Adumbla.^ Four streams of milk from her udders 
nourished Ymir. She herseif was nourished by licking the salt 
blocks of ice.^ As she licked, there began to appear the hair 
of a man, the second day the head appeared, and the third day 
the whole man. His name was Buri ; he was the father of 
Bur, who took for his wife Bestla, daughter of the giants, and 
by her had three sons — -Odin, Wili, and We. 

This triad of Bur's sons killed Ymir, drowning the Frost- 
giants in his blood. Only Bergehnir, son of the six-headed 
Thrudgelmir, escaped^ in a boat. 

The sons of Bur made the world out of Ymir's flesh : 



1 Compare with this the Mother-goddess, p. 117 : the Interpretation as cloud, 
spreading moisture and fertility, corresponds to a later poetic construction, it is 
not the original meaning of the myth. 

- According to the Northern conception salt is the source of all Spiritual life. 

3 Compare the Hathor myth in the Egyptian Coiu-Book, Chap. IX. 



172 NON-BIBLICAL COSMOGONIES 

Froni Ymir's flesh was the world created^ 

from the blood the sui'ging sea^ 

the mountains from the bones, the trees from the hair, 

from the skull the shimmering roof of heaven. 

But from his eyelashes the wise gods made 

Midgard for the race of man ; 

from the brains finally are all the cruel storm-clouds made. 

In this cosmogony and the teaching connected with it in regard 
to the ages of the world_, the dragon-fight^ and the renewal of the 
World, we have the Ancient-Oriental doctrine feature for featuve 
in a peculiarly nationalised form. E. H. Meyer, 43-i ff., assiimes 
the influence of antique scholarship : he sees in the Wala the 
Sophia of Ale.xandrian Judaism ; the giant Thrudgelmir as coming 
from the Orphite teaching ; and Plato's Tirnceiis as also having an 
influence. Mogk, in Gervumische Mythologie, 147 ff., rightly rejects 
this opinion. It might also be assumed that the above-mentioned 
sources go back to the Ancient-Oriental teaching. Golther, p. 518, 
prefers an independent, unconnected origin, but he reverts to the 
old theory when (p. 531) he asserts the Tree of the world Yggdrasil 
is an Imitation of the Christian Tree of the Gross. In another 
passage Golther is upon the right track when he inclines to the 
idea of " borrowing " (more coi-rectly, migration of the teaching). 
He says, p. 502 : " When likenesses are established in a connected 
succession of acts of creation, rieh in material and füll of meaning, 
when details springing from an artistic, arbitrary line of thought 
agree, then the acceptance of the idea of borrowing easily suggests 
itself." From (jolther's very instructive introduction one may see 
that Germanic mythology, antecedent to Jacob Grimm, was on the 
right track even before Ancient-Oriental material was open to 
study. The assumption of Biblical influence must be taken with 
much greater caution. That could only account for isolated 
features. According to Meyer, 434 ff., the whole cosmogony is a 
new poem of the Biblical story of Creation.^ We find the Ancient- 
Oriental teaching also in Frankish-Gennanic viiithology. We have 
already alluded to the divine triad (pp. 86 f.) about which Caesar and 
Tacitus are not opposed to each other, and we shall bring forward 
further evidence under Creation of man and Tree of the world 
(see index). 

The Wessohrunner prayer (eighth or ninth Century a.d.) begins 
in Sibylline form with the fragnient of a cosniogony : 

■' For the sources and for a German translation, see Golther, Handb. der gcrin. 
Myth., 51 7- It is therefore the post-diluvian world. It corresponds to the 
doctrine that the Flood is a parallel to Primeval Chaos, and from it a new world 
arises. For further detail, see chapter on Flood. In the description of Creation 
above, from the Völuspa, the ceons are confused. 



NORTHERN COSMOGONY 173 

I perceived this as tlie highest wisdoin of the living. When 
there was neither earth, nor heaven above, when there was neither 
tree nor mountain, when the sun shone not, neither the moon gave 
light, when there was no sea, neither any Iwundary nor limit^ 
there was ah-eady the one Ahiiighty God, gentlest of men, there 
was wjth him already the host of divine spirits. 

After the evidence given here of a doctrine of the evoKition of the world 
migrating throughout the world, one can scarcely feel inclined to agree vvith 
Wackernagel, who holds that the prayer is the beginning of a translalion of the 
first chapter of Genesis, though it certainly is christianised in the sense of belief in 
the one Almiglity God and in its agreement with the Biblical story. Also it is 
not impossible ihat medieval pictures of ihe stories of Creation, influenced in their 
turn from the East, lent material. Lucas, I.e., rightly includes the prayer in the 
Edda cosmogonies, and Müllenhoff, Deutsche Altertumskniide, p. 68, is probahly 
right in his conjecture that the lost continuation of the poem described the 
destruction of the world. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE BIBLICAL IIECORD OF CRKATION 

(Gen. i. 2, 3) 

The stories of creation having their source in the so-called 
Priestly Documents include the following passages : 

1. In the beginniiig the world was Tehoni (Tohu and Bohu), 
i.e. Primeval Water. 

2. Over Tehom was darkness, over Mayim " brooded " the 
spirit of God. 

3. The Cosmos proceeded out of the Waters by the Word of 
God. 

4. The Cosmos accomplished itself not as a result of this 
" brooding," but in seven or in eight distinct acts of creation 
by the Word of God, divided into six days' work. Seven times 
God Said of it, that it was good, three times it is said " he 
blessed it " : 

(«) There was Light. 

(b) There is a Racjia' made which divides the " Waters " 

(Tehom) into the " upper Waters " and the " under 
Waters." 

(c) In the " under Waters " dry land appeared and was 

covered with grass, plants, and trees. 
(fZ) In the Raqia' of the heavens sun, moon, and stars were 

made, serving as tokens to mark the times, that is, 

" festivals," days, and years. 
(e) Water and Air were inhabited by Hve creatures. 
{f) The dry land was peopled with domestic animals, creeping 

things, and wild beasts. 
(g) Mankind was created in the image of God — male and 

female. 

174 



CREATION 175 

5. God rested upon the seventh day and hallowed it. 

The author of the first chapter of GenesU icas a religious 
reformer} He icas acqnamtecl with the Ancient-Onental con- 
ception of the Universe. This conceptioii corresponded to the 
science of that age just as our present science talks of the 
Tertiary Age, or the Alluvial Age, etc., only that science was 
simpler and ürnier than ours, and their cosmic speculations gave 
them a wider outlook than does the present-day purely telluric 
view of the univevse. Bat the Biblical chronicler does not 1 
trouble himself about the speculations, indeed he rather despises 
them and secretly controverts the mythological forms of the 
teaching. though being child of his own age he cannot quite 
escape them. His efFort is to present religious thoughts, ff/?fZ 
he fills the old forms icHh nexo meaningr 

The following material may be considered in regard to special 
points : 

L In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, 
and the earth was tohu zca hohu. This " earth "^ spoken of in 
Gen. i. 2 cannot be our "earth," as the further development 
of the idea shows. From the earth (=Tohu and Bohu) arises 
the tripartite earthly Universe : air, earth, and sea. Therefore 
in the word "the heavens'' (in the beginning God created 
heaven and earth) the three-part Celestial Universe is hidden, 
though later the division has not been kept clear. Words 
have failed the chronicler, just as, for example, in the case 
of the Greeks, who said "Uranos'' and "Gaia" and in 
them included the whole of the Over- and Under-worlds. 
The Oriental cosniogonies used artificial mythological per- 
sonifications for them which the siniplified presentment could 
not reproduce. 

The earthly Universe is thci'cfore chaotic Frimeval Flood. 
This doctrine of Chaotic Water we have found in every Ancient- 

1 Seep. Si. 

2 This is the fundamental idea of the A.T.A.O. ; Winckler, F., iii. 3S6 f., now 
also expresses the same opinion. The chroniclers of the tradilions hold to the 
science of their time, just as a modern theologian, convinced of the Darwinian 
theory, would make evolution the foiindation of a sermon on creation. A lyric 
religious conception, which is contained in the first chapter of Genesis, is clearly 
Seen in Ps. civ. 



176 THE BIBLICAL RECORD OF CREATION 

Oriental cosniogony. Tlie worlds arise froni Primeval Ocean ; 
see p. 6. 

The word Tehora, name of the elemental Waters (without 
article. therefore thought of as personiiied), corresponds oii the 
one hand to the Babylonian word tämtu, "sea"" (in the Babv- 
lonian Record of Creation spoken of oii pp. 142 ff.), designating 
the elemental Waters whereiii were contained (comp. 2 Pet. iii. 5) 
the later heavenly and earthly world ; and on the other hand it 
corresponds to the mythological idea of Tiamat, the dragon-like 
monster, whose defeat by Marduk, God of Light, precedes the 
new creation of the world in the Babylonian epic Enuma elish. 
There is a trace in the word of the mythological lore, which is 
well known to the author but which he would fain avoid. Still 
more clearly is the mythology shown in the designation Tohu 
and Bohu. As Tohu corresponds to Ti(h)amat, so Bohu is 
reminiscent of Beheraoth (heheinat), the narae of another monster 
of chaos, comp. Job xl. 19 In Marduk's combat chaos is re- 
presented by two monsters, Kingu and Tiamat, seep. 146. The 
dragons in the north heaven and the south heaven of the star- 
chart correspond to them.- 

Tohu and Bohu belong to the primeval world. The Phoenician 
Bäu^ according to Pliilo^ mother of Primeval Man, and the 
Babylonian Mother-goddess Bau,- -'correspond'" to Bohu, but they 
belong to the present aeon. 

2. In the idea " the spirit of God brooded '' a fragment of 
Ancient-Oriental teaching in mythological form is hidden. The 
Creative "spirit of God" is, in the higher sense, what Mummu 
(according to Damascius Mcoi'/xi9, "the intelligible world") is 
in the Babylonian teaching; see pp. 6 f, 91. It is the Sophia 
which, according to Prov. viii. 22 ff. (p. 188), dwelt in the waters 
and was operative in creation. The "brooding" is plainly a 
remnant of a mythological expression. According to an 

^ See Lepsius, Reich Chnsti, 1903, 227, who shows Bohu = behemoth, p-ehe- 
viau on the Egyptian celestial globe, which shows the crocodile in place of the 
northem dragon of our globe. A proof that the author of the first chapter of 
Genesis knew the monsters of chaos is given by the inclusion of the Tanninim 
amongst the creatures of the sea ; see p. 181. 

- If Hommel's equation of the goddess Gur = Bau in his Semiten holds good, 
then II. R. 54, No. 3, 18, is significant, where we find ilu Gur = Am-ulu-an-ki 
"mother who bore heaven and earth" (see Stucken, Asti-almythen, p. 71). 



CHAOS ITT 

Egyptian myth (see Bnigsch, Religion, ]61) Khnmn. the archi- 
tect, modelled an Egg.' which contained the light. upon a 
potter"s wheel. 

B. In a m}"thologica] piesentment the world would be said 
to result from the " brooding of the spirit." But the religious 
thought breaks free from this form. The world arises from 
the Word of God. who is independent of the world and niles 
with might over it. Here there is no theogony to be foimd. 
The certainty with which " God " is here spoken of raises 
the Biblical teaching of creation high above everv Oriental 
cosmogony. 

That the idea of creation by the Word of God could arise 
in Babylonia also may be taken as proof of the high spiritual 
level of the Babylonian religion. 

When Marduk is ordained to be avenger against Tiamat and 
Lord of Heaven, "' to whom the lordship over the whole Universe 
shall be given." he is to inaugurate his lordship bv a miracle : 

They placed a "garmeut" in theii- midst. 

Spoke to Mardiik. their Firstborn : 

" Thy (decrees of) Fate. O Lord, stand before those of the Gods '. 

Command destruction and creation. so shall it be ; 

VVhen thou openest thy mouth the garment shall disappear '. 

Command it again. so shaU the garment (again^ be nnhurt ! ' 

Then he commanded with his mouth. and the garment was 

destroyed. 
He commanded again. and the garment was i again) created. 
When the Gods,. his fathers. saw what proceeded from his 

mouth; 
thev rejoiced, thev did homage : Marduk is king I 

The ineident somids childish. but a deep meaning underlies 
it. The passage belongs to those in which the reciter onlv 
hints at things which are Avell knoAvn to the hearers, or. con- 
trariwise, are held as mysteries. The " garment """ can scarcelv 
be simply a cloak. The espression following "be unhurt " 
would not suit that. It must be dealing with a cosmic cloak, 
which has to do with the ruling of destinies. Marduk's cloak 

^ Comp. p. iS::. For the Egg of the world in Phcenician cosmogony. see 
p. 156, above. For same ia India and China, etc., p. 165. The pictures in Niklas 
Müllers Glauben, li'issen und Kunst der Hindu, Mainz, 1822, are specially 
interesting. 

VOL. I. 12 



^ 



178 THE BIBLICAL RECORD OF CREATION 

(flg. 32) shows cosmic designs which in any case represent 
his lordship over the world's destiny. In tbe Biblical Ephod 
and the Hiffh Priesfs robe witli its cosmic ornamentation 
(see Exod. xxviii. 31 ff.) we find the same presentment. 
The coronation mantle made in Byzantium for one of the 
medieval German emperors, " with representations from the 
Apocalypse" upon it, signified in the same way the rulership 
of the World. 

4a. In terse woi'ds the Biblical writer records : " And God 
Said: Let there be l'ight ! And there ivas light!'" Pagan cosmo- 
gonies speak in the mythological form transmitted to us of a 
fantastic victory of the God of Light over dark Primeval 
Chaos. For the world proceeded from Chaos, as the New World 
arises in springtime out of the winter flood, after the defeat of 
the Dragon of Winter. The appearance of Marduk as Light- 
giver gains peculiar significance when we remember that in 
Babylonian teaching Marduk, Bringer of Light, is made, as son 
of Ea, equal to Adapa, zer amelidl, " Seed of Mankind," who 
also brings the new age ; see pp. 106 and 89. Certain specula- 
tions as to an intermediary creator also arose concerning the 
Biblical creation of light, which precedes the sun, even if they 
were not originally included in it. In the 104th Psalm, which 
mirrors the seven acts of creation in lyric form, the first act is 
indicated in the words, '' who covers himself with light, as with 
a garment,'" and in the prologue to St John's Gospel, which 
purposely connects itself with the first chapter of Genesis (" in 
the beginning ") the life of the Word is characterised as Light, 
which from all ages has permeated the Divine creation ; the 
exalted Christus of the Apocalypse, who conquers the dragon 
and creates the new world, is called (Rev. iii. 14) " the beginning 
of the creation of God." ^ With good reason, therefore, light 
precedes sun and moon (comp. Isa. Ix. 20 ; Rev. xxii. 5 and 
xxi. 23) where the light proceeds from upiiovr' 

1 As son of Ea, Marduk therefore corresponds to the Logos as mediator. 
When on the other hand Mummu ( = Ea, see p. 9) as von^rhs Kicrfxos corresponds 
to the Logos, it is no contradiction. The son in the new age corresponds to the 
father ; see pp. 89 f., n. I. 

* " Ram" = Christ, see p. 76; ß.N.T., 16. I cannot agree with Winckler's 
Interpretation, F., iii. 282. 



RAQIA' j79 

For tlie numbers seven and three, see pp. 63 ff. Froni the "' 
epic Enuma elish, Avritten upon seven tablets, it is not possible 
to prove the ninnber of the works of creation, owing to the 
fragmentarv character of the tablets. Bj the recital in the 
song of praise to Marduk upon the last tablet the order seems 
to agree fairly with the Biblical six days' work. The works of 
creation in the Babylonian ßecord of Creation (pp. 142 ff.) 
also are suggestive of the order in Gen. i., only that in the 
Babylonian record niankind precedes the others ; this, on the 
other hand, agrees with Gen. ii. The Etruscan teaching (pp. i 
168 ff.) corresponds, as do also the Indian records, and the I 
Persian in the Bundehesh ; see pp. 161 ff. and 165 f. ; compare' 
also the Wessobrunner prayer, p. 173. 

4ö. Formation of the rnqicr to divide the upper from the 
under waters. There is a trace of the division into three of the i 
Celestial Universe, which we mentioned p. 175, to be found in ^ 
the idea raq'ia'-. It is the sanie word that in Ezek. i. 22 ff"., x. 
1, designates the body of the chariot of God supported by four 
Cherubim, representative of the four ends of the Barth. When 
the writer says. Gen. i. 8, "God called the raqia\ which 
should divide the upper from the under waters, ' Heaven,' " it is 
not possible that it means " Heaven" in the sense in which we 
mean it.^ Raqia'- is called the " firmly grounded," the built-up, 
corresponding to the Babylonian shupu'k. It is expressly said 
" raqia' of the heaven " (that is, the Babylonian slmpul- sharne), 
V. 14, 17, 20, and v. 14 ff., arise in the ?rtqia' sun and moon 
and l-oJi-abim ("stars,"' the planets were specially meant) as 
" tokens." The expression raqia' ha sharnaim proves that the 
author of Gen. i. knew of the double raqia'."- Raqia' as | 
Celestial Barth is therefore the zodiac ; for it is in the zodiac 1 
that the rulers of time move. In the ancient picture of the 
universe the zodiac is so iraportant as place of manifestation 
for the stars that the other realms of the celestial world were 
set in the background. Eaqia', therefore, was siniply used for 

^ See p. 149. n. i. 

^ Chagiga, lat»: ''There are two ragi'a' according to Deut. x. 14." /öid., 
I2'i': "Sun, moon, planets and signs of the zodiac are sunk in the raqia'.'''' 
Comp, also the Hebrew text of Sirach, 41, 



180 THE BIBLICAL RECORD OF CREATION 

"heaven." ^ Gen. i. completelygives up tlie mytliological Celestial 
Universe and in its place appears the living God, who, as Creator, 
Stands niajestically opposed to Heaven and Earth.- For raqia'' 
as zodiac in the Bible, comp, further p. 189. 

4c. Dry land, our Earth, appears out of the waters still sur- 
rounding the terrestrial Earth (Hebrew, tthel ; Assyrian, nahalu or 
tannhm). Just in the same way Earth is built upon the waters 
in the Babylonian Record of Creation (pp. 142 fF.). And in 
Ps. xxiv. 2 Earth is founded upon the seas and established 
upon the floods, as in the Babylonian record it is built of reeds 
and mud upon the waters ; see p. 143. In an Assyrian version 
of the Marduk myth, in which Asshur, chief god of the 
Assyrians, plays the part of Creator of the world,^ the rain- 
bow {qaqqarii) is stretched " over the ocean and over against 
Eshara." That something like this was related in the missing 
fragments of the epic Enuma elish is shown by the closing hymn, 
which says of Marduk that he made the ashru (here " Celestial 
Earth ") ^ and (over against the ashru) built the damünu, that 
is to say, the tannhm, i.e. the terrestrial land : ^ 

Because he made the ashru, and built the Earth, Father Bei 
called Inm " Lord of the Lands" (Tablet VII., 115 f.). 

The Creai'ion of P/ants as well was described in the Baby- 
lonian record spoken of pp. 142 W. 

1 In Gen. i. 20 the birds (Ps. civ. 12, " fowls of tlie heaven") " fly in the 
rae/m' of heaven," that is to sa}', the side turned towaids us of the celestial world 
represented by the zodiac. The commentator added " above the earth. " 

2 Winckler, F., in. 387 f. (commentary upon Genesis), thinks that in verse 6, 
where the j-aqia' is made in the midst of the v^^aters, to divide the waters 
from the waters, the terrestrial earth, the terrestrial raqia', is meant. The 
author of the first chapter of Genesis has not kept the ideas clearly apart, and has 
placed the terrestrial raqia' in the heaven. The very clear-sighled deductions of 
J. Lep'iius, in his Reich C/iris/i, 1903, must be corrected accordingly. Lepsius 
further concludes that verses 14 to 18 originally came before verse 8. 

^ K. 3445 + Rm. 396, Ciiiieifo)-fn Texts, xiii. 24 f., interpreted by Delitzsch, 
the Babylonian epic of Creation, under No. 20 is tentatively included in the Enuma 
elish. Asshur is here made equal by the priests of Nineveh (though probably 
artificially) with Anshar, who belonged to the gods of the primeval world (see p. 
147), in Order to make his role plausible. On the Assyrian claim, see also pp. 154 f- 
above, and comp. Zimmern, K.A.T., yd ed., pp. 351, 496. 

■• For the Deluge, see Chap. IX. ; ashru {ashralum) as "terrestrial earth," 

^ See p. 149, n. 7. 



STARS 181 

That also the epic Enuma elish described this act of creation 
is shown by a recently discovered fragment of the closing hymn 
of Tablet VII., which praises Marduk as creator of the world 
of plants.^ 

4<d. The conception of the stars as spiritual beings is ahiiost 
eliminated. It glimmers still in the expression " rulership of 'i 
sun and moon,''" Gen. i. 16 and Gen. ii. 1, "the heavens and 
the earth and all the host of them.'" 

Comp. Judges v. 20 : The stars fought from the heavens, the 
people of Sisera fought from their places. Also in passages which 
conceive of the stars as mighty rulers, as Isa. xl. 26 ; Job xxxviii. 7 ; 
Deut. iv. 19; and in the hkening of the king to a star, as in 
Numb. xxiv. 17. In Isa. xiv. 12 the conception may be hidden. 
Upon the whole subject, see B.N.T., 83 ff. The mythological 
presentment of the Sun Coming out of the bridal chamber in the , 
morning as a youthful hero is treated poetically in Ps. xix. 6 ; \ 
see p. 117. 

Though the mythological nieaning of the stars has vanished, 
the astrological nieaning by which, as we have seen, the whole 
Babylonian conception is governed, is, at least in v. 14 f., 
vecoguKRhle C^'- thei/ shall he for signs''^). The o^/zo^A are astral "^ 
signs, against the misuse of which Jeremiah (x. 2) gives warn- 
ing. At V. 17 hhe last trace has A-anished, as in the hymn to 
Sun, Moon, and Stars, Ecclesiasticus xliii. 1 ff. 

For the Babylonian creation of the stars, see pp. 31 f. and 
142 f. 

4g. Amongst icater creatures appear the Tanninim, the " sea- 
serpents." The Ancient-East thought of the sea as peopled 
with monsters, because of its Underworld character (pp. 8, 15 f.), 
as the reliefs of Nineveh show. Ps. Ixxiv. 13 (see p. 194) shows 
that we may expect to find here an echo of the monsters of 
chaos. Ps. civ. 26 (founded upon Gen. i.) names Leviathan as 
a sea monster.- 

1 K.T., 125 ; the fragment V. R. 21, No. 4 (Delitzsch, Wellschöpfiingsepos, 

p. 152) "comments" upon these four lines of the hymn to Marduk. The 

Observation by Zimmern, A'.A.T., yd ed., 510, regarding the creation of theT^v«'/- 

ftil earth in the Babylonian, is weak, since eshara does not denote the earth, but 

" Olympus." 

" Apparently added later. The passage makes an avvkward Impression in the 
Massora text. 



1 



182 THE BIBLICAL RECORD OF CREATION 

4/! Compare the creation of animals on a Babylonian frag- 
ment, p. 185, and the Babylonian Record of Creation, pp. 142 f. 

4^. Creation qf Man. — Upon this there is a rieh supplj of 
Babylonian niaterial to be considered. In the Babylonian 
religious conception the creation of man is ascribed to Ea and 
Aruru, a nianifestation of the Mother-goddess ; then to Marduk 
of Eridu, son of Ea, the Demiurgos, who, on the other hand, 
is himself " Primeval Man'' (Adapa = Adam,^ zer amelüti 
" Seed of Mankind"); finally to the Mother-goddess Ishtar 
herseif. The niaterial from which man is made is dhfdhti, 
" clay '' ; dhidhu iqtarits, " he broke ofF clay,'' it is said in one 
of the accounts, word for word like Job xxxiii. 6, comp. Gen. 
i. 21."^ It is Said of a man who is dead, his life has become 
" earth " (dhklhish). Ea is therefore called (II. R. 58, No. 5, 
57) the " Potter." This conception is still further developed in 
Egypt, Avhere the maker of man is represented sitting at the 
potter's wheel.'^ The thought of a creation "after the likeness" 
of God is to be found also in the Babylonian teaching, though 
without the deep religious reflection which lies at the root of 
the hymn-like utterance of Gen. i. 26 f. At the creation of 
Eabani, when Aruru "broke off clay," it is said (p. 185) that 
she previously "made in her heart a r:lJi?-u of the god Anu"; 
and in another text (p. 186) Ishtar (Mami, Cod. Hamm., iii. 

^ AAAM, AAAII, possibly an intentional differentiation ; see Stucken, Astral- 
mythcii, Ix. 71 ; Zimmern, K.A. T., 3rd ed., 523 ; Winckler, /'., iii. 2976. K. 3459, 
col, ii. 12 {A.B., V. 320) ; adapn seems to be an epithel applied to Marduk. 
Marduk is the son of Ea in the primeval theogony ; the corresponding figure in 
the heroic age is Adapa, and in the age of mankind, Adam. 

^ See Izdiibar-Nimrod, 1891, p. 46, A. Jeremias ; also comp. Ps. cxxxix. 
15; Gen. ii. 7. For further quotations about the creation out of dkidku, see 
Zimmern, A'.A.T., yd ed., 506. 

^ See pp. 161 and 177, and fig. 61. The presentment "earthborn" is 
universal. The first man in India, Purusha, who formerly proceeded, instead of 
Brahma, from the Egg of the world, proceeded, according to the Dharma Shastra 
(commentary upon the Books of the Law) from the earth, upon the command of 
Vishnu, whereupon God gave him life (a soul) so that he might know his creator and 
worship him ; see Lueken, Die Traditionen des Menschengeschlechts, 2nd ed. , p. 57. 
In the Chinese Fong-sutong it is said : "When heaven and earth were created, 
mankind was still wanting. So Niu-hoa (the demiurgos) took yellow earth and 
made man therefrom." With the Greeks, Prometheus made the first man out of 
clay, according to a fragment ascribed to Hesiod, and Minerva bestowed a soul 
upon him. Aristophanes {Avcs, 686) calls mankind " image of clay" ; Pausanias, 
(x. 4) " saw the clay relics of Prometheus in a chapel in Phocis." 



MAN 183 

27 ff. ; Ma-ma, see p. 186) makes seven little men and seven 
little women mikhruska, probably " as her counterparts.'"' - The 
stoiy of the creation of Adapa teils of the endowment of man 
with intelligence. 

The following texts and fragments froni the Cuneiform may 
be considered in regard to Adapa : — 

1. The Legends of Adapa found in Amarna amongst texts 
originating in Canaan and Babylonia.^ 

The record of the actual acts of creation has not been recovered. 
The fragments that have been recovered relate how Ea endowed 
his created Being with '^' divine " power, a broad mind to under- 
stand tlie Constitution of the land, how he gave him wisdom — he 
did not, however, give him eternal life — and how he made him, the 
child of Eridu, as a sage (?) ^ amongst men. We learn, further, 
that as a "sage and cunning fox " {abkallu and atrakhcisis) "^ he 
was entrusted with all manner of priestly functions, and governed 
as divine baker and cupbearer.-^ With the bakers of Eridu he 
looked after the baking, providing the daily supply of bread and 
water, he provided the dishes with his clean hands, no dish was 
made ready without him, he entered the ship daily and went 
a-fishing for Eridu. When Ea stretched himself upon his couch, 
then Adapa left Eridu and sailed around in his ship during the 
night to catch fish. From the fragments telling of Adapa's later 
fate, we leavn that Ann, God of Heaven, considered how this Being, 
expressly called in one passage "Seed of Mankind," might also 
become endowed with the gift of eternal life. One day as he went 
fishing the south wind suddenly overturned his boat and he feil 
into tlie sea. Adapa in revenge broke the wings of the south 
wind (the bird Zu), so that he could not fly for seven days. Anu, 
God of Heaven, called him to account, saying, " No mercy !" but 
at the prayer of Tammuz and Gishzida, Watchers of the Gate, Anu 
softened his anger, and commanded that a banquet should be 
prepared, and a festival garment presented to him, and oil for his 
anointing : garment and oil he accepted, but food and drink he 
refused. Ea had warned him : '-'When thou appearest before Anu, 
they will offer thee food of Death : eat not thereofl Water of 
Death will they offer thee : drink not thereof ! They will present 
thee with a garment : put it on I They will offer thee oil : anoint 

' Zimmern, K.A.T., 3rd^ed., 506 ; comp. Jensen, K.B., vi. 546. " Descent of 
Ishtar into Hades," where Ea, before he makes the messengers of the gods, first 
made an image in his heart ; see p. 185. 

^ Füll transcription and translation in Jensen, K-B-,^ vi. 92 ff. 

" See Jensen, K.B., vi. 406. The divine son of Ea, Marduk, and the human 
son, Adapa, are equally abkallu. 

■* Reversed Hasis-atra (Xisuthros) in Berossus. Epithet applied to the 
beginner of the nevv age, after the Deluge. ^ P. 60. 



184 THE BIBLICAL RECORD OF CREATION 

thyself with it." ^ But behold, it was Bread of Life and Water of 
Life ! Ann breaks forth in wonder. Upon the man who has been 
permitted by bis creator to gaze into the secrets of heaven and 
earth {i.e. has been endowed with the knowledge of mysteries, 
see pp. 83 f.) he (Ana) has desired to bestow also immovtality. 
And by the " envy of the god " the man has been deceived.^ 

Like the Erishkigal iiiyth, this text was sent incidentally 
with some state papers to the Egyptian king, probably as 
classical specimens of composition and writing, the fine style 
of both composition and writing, so diff'erent froni Canaanite 
work, pointing to a Babylonian source. 

2. The fragment Rassam, 982,^ teils of the creation by 
Ea of a masculine Being in the midst of the Ocean, who was 
afterwards suckled. Zimmern conjectures that this refers to 
a story of the birth of Adapa. 

3. The beginning of the VIth fablet of the epic Enuma 
elish describes, after a ceremonious introductioii, the making 
of man as the last act of creation : 

When Marduk heard the discourse * of the gods, 

then it came into his mind, to make [avtificially]. 

He opened his mouth and spake unto Ea, 

What he in his innermost thought had conceived communi- 

cating [to him] : 
Blood ^ will I take, and bone will I [build, cut off],*^ 
will place there mankind, the man may [ ] ; 

^ For banquet customs and the garment, see Ps. xxiii. 5 ; Matt. xxii. 12. 

^ In Gen. iii. 5 the idea of " the envy of God " shows in the words of the serpent. 

3 Delitzsch, Das Weltschöpfungsepos, pp. iio f. ; comp. Zimmern, K.A.T., 3rd 
ed., 520. 

•* Unfortunately only unimportant parts of this discourse, which form the conclu- 
sion of the Vth tablet, are contained in the fragments communicated by King, loc. cif. 

^ Or is it "my blood"? Another epic fragment, Cun. Texts, vi. 5, see 
Zimmern, K.A. T., yd ed., 497, says the IVIother of the gods made man out of clay 
and the blood of a slain god. The record of Berossus, according to which, after 
Bei (Marduk) had cut off his own head, he mixed earth with the flowing blood and 
so made men (and animals), has proved itself true. That the beheaded one then 
"hears" and " conceives someihing in his mind " and "opens his mouth " is no 
impossibility in a myth. It is treating, as Berossus says, " of the allegorical 
presentment of natural phenomena." The head continues to grow, like the 
serpent in the Persian myth ; see p. 164. We must decline the religious, ralher 
dogmatic conclusions appearing in the article " Heidnische Weissagungen auf den 
Messias" by Fr. Hommel in the proof volume of Glauben und IVissen (populär 
leaflets for the defence and deepening of the Christian faith, published by Dennert). 

" Or : a piece of clay will I [break off]? see K.A.T., ßrd ed., 5S6, n. 3. 



MAN 185 

will create mankind, that he may dwell [ ] ; 

laid lipon [him] shall be the service of the gods, these be [in 
their] divin e rooiiis.^ 

[The remabider is mntilated.] 
A song of praise to Mardiik at the end of the tablets of the 
Enunia eh.sh says retrospectively about the work of creation : 
_ .... wJio created mankind, to deliver them, the merciful, to whom 
it beloiigs to bestow life : discourses about him shall continiie and 
shall not be forgotten in the mouth of the dark-haired race inade 
by his hands. 

The nieaning of the worcis " to deliver them " (Assyrian padü, 
compare the corresponding Hebrew word) probably refers to 
Marduk's character, described pp. 106 fF., comp. p. 195, particu- 
larly to his ^^-arfare with the Power of Darkness, which continues 
tili the renewal of the workl. It is also to be noted that Marduk 
has here taken the role of Nebo, as foreteller and bringer of 
the new age (pp. 74 and 91 and comp. p. 90, n. 1 ). 

4. In a fragmentary passage on Tablet VII. it is said : - 

He named the ends of the earth, created mankind (the dark- 
haired). ^ 

5. The creation of Eabani in the Gilgamesh epic, Tablet I. : 

.... thou Ariu-u, hast been created bv [Gilgameshlj 
now make his counterpart ! . . . . 

When Aruru heard this, she made in her heart a counterpart 'i 

of Ann. ^ \ 

Aruru washed her hands, broke off' clay, spat upon it (?), 
.... Eabani, made a mightv one .... ' 

6. In the '-journey to hell of Ishtar^^ Ea makes mi amelu 
assmnu, who is to see to the deliverance of Ishtar out of the 1 
Underworld : j 

Ea made an image in his heart (?) 
Made Uddushii-namir, an assinnu-man. 

7. The fragment D.T. 41 ^ begins : 

After that the gods all together [the universe] made, 

the heavens established, [the earth kingdom] put tooether 

brought forth animated beings ....["....] "^ ' 

^ Men aie made for the Service of the gods ; comp. p. 143. 

^ K.T., 127 ; there erroneously "created." 

' I-ast translated by Jensen in R'.ß., vi. pp. 42 f. 



186 TflE BIBLICAL RECORD OF CREATION 

Cattle of the field, [beasts] of the fiele! and crowds [built 

the city], 
[....] the living beings [. . . . given], 
[to the cattle of the] field and to the crowd of the city 

[....] appoi'tioned 
the cattle of the field, the multitude of the crowd, every sort 

of creature [•..■] 
[. . . .], that in the multitude of my family [. . . .], 
Avhen Ea came up and Uvo little [beings created], 

in the multitude of the crowd [their form (?)] made beautiful ^ 

[FcV 7noi-e mutilated lines fol/oiv.] 

It is to be inferred froni the last two lines that Ea rises 
from the ocean and makes two beautiful little men aniongst 
the men already made.^ 

8. In the series of incantations of Shurpu ^ it is said : 

It came to Ea, Lord of mankindj whose hands had made man. 

9. In an incantation text "^ which seems to have been recited 
during birtbs, Atarkhasis complains when he appears before 
Ea, bis Lord, of the afflictions wbich have fallen upon man 
(probably before the Flood, see below) : 

.... you have made us^ and [therefore] 

could have kept from us illness, fevers, agues, misfortunes. 

At the conclusion of this text we find from seven women, seven 
little men and seven little women " beautifully made " and 
" completed as her counterpart " by Mami the Mother-goddess 
and maker of men. Hammurabi calls liimself (iJ.C., iii. 27 ff.) 
" Creation of the wise Ma-ma." She is a Variation of the 
Mother-goddess Ishtar, comp. pp. 117 f. 

10. In the so-called Creation Legends of Kutha^ it is related, 
rather incoherently to us (as yet) how a king of Kutha was 
once upon a time threatened by monsters, and the creation of 
them is told as follows : 

^ Emendation verified by the stele of Merodach-Baladan, 7tshtarrikh nabnilsun. 

- Jensen rightly concludes the pre-supposition of these from the expressions 
" thiong of the city " and " my families." 

■' Tablet IV., line 70. Interpreted by H. Zimmern, Beiträge zur A'cnntais der 
babylonischen Religion. 

■* K. 3399 + 3934 ; see Jensen, A'.B., vi. 274 ff. 

^ Last treated by Jensen, K.B., vi. 290 ff. ("the king of Kutha"). and before 
by Zimmern, Z.A., xi. 317 ff., "King tukulti bei nishi " and the " Kuthrean 
Leeends of Creation." 



MAN 187 

The warriors with bodies like cave bivds, men with countenances 

like ravens, 
the great gods generated them, and 
u]ion the ground where the gods had biiilt his city (?) 
Tiämat suekled them, 

Their mother, queen of the gods, made them beautiful. 
In the midst of the mountains they grew large, 
They attained to manhood and they acquired stature. 

When in Gen. i. 26 the creation of man is introduced by 
the address, " Let us malie man in our image, after our ükeness^''^ 
behind these Avords is hidden the remains of a conception of a 
heavenly Council,^ as it is thought of in Isa. vi. 8, or as it is said 
in the non-Biblical legends connected with the historv of Moses 
in Egypt : 

Then were opened to his vision the heavenly heights_, the 
secrets of fav worlds revealed themselves to him, the angels of 
God were assembled about the throne of the Ahiiighty, to give 
judgment upon the events of the earth.- 

As in Job xxxviii. 7 it refers to wondering beholders. It is 
not at all necessary to consider that it refers to helpers in the 
creation, neither, consequently, need it be an " echo of polytheisni 
from the Babyionian source"" (Budde, Urgeschichte, p. 484). 

Babylonian parallels to the creation of man " after the 
Image" of God have been spoken of above, p. 185. 

The Creation according to the so-calkd Yahvist 
(Gen. ii. 4 ff.) 

" Jn the daij that Yahveli made earth and heaven — no plant of 
the field was yet in the earth, and no herb of the field had yet 
Sprung up : for Yahveh had not caused it to rain upon the eai'th, 
and there was not [yet] a man to tili the ground, \but there xcent 
up a mist from the earth, and icatered the ichole face of the 
ground]^ — then Yahveh formed man of the dust of the groiind 

^ Comp. Gen. iii. 22, xi. 7 ; Job i. 6 ff. In the Wessobrunner prayer God is 
.surrounded by the hosts of heavenly spirits at the creation ; see p. 173. 

- See Beer, Leben Mosis ; upon the celestial Council, comp. B.N.T., pp. 13 ff. 

^ The si.xth verse, which disturbs the coherence, possibly belonged originally to 
the description of the garden, where the Water of Life is missing, which should be 
near the Tree of Life ; see Holzinger. ad loc, in Marti's Handkom/uefilar. If 
our comparison with the Babylonian story is right, this supposition gains new 
Support therefrom. 



188 THE BIBLICAL RECORD OF CREATION 

and hreathed into his nostrils the hreath of Vife and man became 
a living soid.'''' 

These are the words with which the so-called Yahvist 
introduces the history of man. The tone of the story recalls 
the beginning of the Babylonian Record of Creation spoken of 
pp. 142 ff., and also the beginning of the epic Enuma ehsh. 
The Northern cosmogony, p. 170, and the Wessobrunner prayer 
begin in hke manner : " . . . . then Yahveh made man." 
It sounds ahnost hke an intentional polemic against the non- 
Bibhcal theogony, " . . . . then the gods vvere made." The 
terrestrial acts of creation begin with man in the Babylonian 
Record mentioned, pp. 142 ff. 

Creation in the Book of Proverbs 
(Prov. viii. 22-31) 

Wisdom (Hochmah, Sophia) speaks : 

Yahveh formed me as the beginning of his way^ as the first of 

his works^ 
Betöre his woi-ks of old. 

I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning^ 
Ol' ever the earth was. 

When there were no depths^ I was brought forth ; 
When there were no fountains abounding with water. 
Before the mountains were settled, 
Before the hüls was I brought forth : 
While as yet he had not nmde the eai-th, nor the fields^ 
Nor the sum of the diist of the world. 
When he established the heavens, I was there : 
When he set a circle over the ocean : 
When he made firm the skies above : 
When the fountains of the deep became strong : 
When he gave to the sea its bound, 

That the waters should not transgress his commandments^ 
When he marked out the foundations of the earth : 
Then was I by him as a master workman ; 
And I was daily his delight^, 
Sporting (busy) always before him^ 
Sporting upon his habitable earth, 
And my delight was with the sons of men. 

Wisdom dwelLs in the deeps, from whence the earth proceeds.^ 
She corresponds to the i/ojjto^ Koar/ixo'i of Damascius (mytholo- 

' See Peiser, O.L.Z., 1900, 451 ; and comp. p. 191, n. I. 



CREATION IN THE BOOK OF JOB 189 

gised as Mummu, Ea, Marcluk-abkallu), to the "spirit brooding 
lipon the face of the waters " of Gen. i., and to the Logos, see 
pp. 6, 90, n. 1, 176. 

Creaüon in the Boolv of Job 
(Job xxxviii. 4-7) 

Wliere wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth ? 

Declare, if thou hast understanding ! 

Who determined the measures thereof, — seeing thou 

knowest I — 
Or who stretched the line upon it ? 
Wherenpon were the fountains thereof niade to sink^ 
Or who hiid the conier-stone thereof; 
When the morning stars sang together, 
When all the sons of God shouted for joy ? 

Then all the separate parts of the terrestrial world are 
described. The " scientific "" details are enlarged upon in these 
purely poetic descriptions. 

The Bibucal Cosmos 

The following material maj be considered in this connection 
(comp. p. 175). 

We meet with a faint trace of raqia^ as the zodiac (pp. 
179 f.) in the 19th Psahn : 

The heuvens declare the glory of God ; and (as it were in a special 
way) the raqia' sheireth hü- handiirork (it is the commentary for the 
revelation of the Deity). 

The question may be suggested in this connection, whether 
the shekhaqirn, which sometimes stands parallel with shamahn, 
" heaven," may not in some passages signify " heaven " in the 
same sense as the Babylonion eshara, which like " Olympus " 
was built opposite to apsn ; see p. 149. 

Hast thou stampcd (the verh relating to raqia'' is used) with him 
lipon shekhaqim, strong as a violten mirror? (Job xxxvii. 13.) 
Thy lovingkindness, Yahveh, is in the heavens, 
Thy failhßdness (?-each.eth) vnto the shekhaqim, 
Thy righieousness is like the moimtains of God, 
Thy Statutes^ like the gi'eat TehoinP- (Ps. xxxvi. 5 f.) 

^ nipT-', not " judgments " (Kautzsch). 

"^ Here and elsewhere in the Septuagint given as aßvaa-os ; Vulgate, abyssus. 



190 THE BIBLICAL RECORD OF CREATION 

As heaven and the mountains are antitheses in the last 
passage, sheJi'haqhn and tehom (ocean) must be taken as the 
corresponding celestial and terrestrial ideas.^ In Deut, xxxiii. 15 
fF. Joseph's land is described as tbe most blessed, as the central 
point. In it "• the heaven above, and the tehom, that coucheth 
beneath "" are named in antithesis ; and the sun and growing 
moon, comp. p. 35, n. 1 (Winckler, F., iii. 306 ff'.). 

The three parts of the universe are known also to the so- 
called Elohist in Exod. xx. 4 : 

Thou shalt not muke unto thee any idoi, nor the likeness of auy thing 
that is in heaven ahove, or that is in the earth heneath, or that is in the 
wate?- linder the earth. 

" In the water under the earth " gives a very faint, confused 
conception. Ocean was thought of as being round about and 
under the earth. When the passage forbids niaking the image 
of anything that is in the sea (comp, v, 11, "the sea, and all 
that in tliem is "), surely it must include not only the fishes, but 
also the sea monsters : Leviathan, Tanninim, Tehomoth, and 
Behemoth, as they appear in the poetic passages ; comp. p. 181. 
That these mythical sea monsters were pictorially represented 
in the temple at Jerusalem is suggested by Ezek. viii. 1 fF. The 
controversies show that the '* scientific " presentment is trace- 
able even in Exod. xx. 

Comp, also Ps. cxxxv. 6, " Whatsoever Yahveh pleased, that 
hath he done. In heaven and in eartJi, in the seas and in all 
Tehomothy 

Ps. cxlviii. faintly reflects the conception : 

V. 1. Fraise the Lordfrom the heavens. 
V. 7. Fraise the Lordfrom the earth. 

The "heavens" are further explained as m'ronihn; here it 
is the stars, such as in Isa. xxiv. 21 ff. (see p. 195), have become 
the hosts of Yahveh (in the Priestly Documents they are wholly 
eliminated). V. 4 then specially mentions the waters of the 
heavens, to which a pn (boundary) is given beyond which 
they may not pass ; see p. 150, n. 2. 

^ In shckhaqiui one may certainly think of the " waters that are above," 
which, as in Gen. i., are over against the " waters that are below." 



THE BIBLICAL COSMOS 191 

The sea in v. 7 with the tanninhn and all tehomoth {t'iamat ! 
or is it behemoth ?), all mythical sea-monsters, also all earthly 
creatures and inhabitants, belongs to the Eartb, that is, to the 
earthly realm in Opposition to the celestial. 

In the Babylonian ap.sü the sea is in mythological sense the 
dwelling-place of " wisdom;' Ea, who dwells in apsii, is hei 
nimeqi, "Lord of Wisdom '' ; see p. 105. In Ps. xxxvi. 6 the 
judgments of God are likened to the "great tehomr And in 
Proverbs wisdom is represented as sitting in telwm} 

When the earth in Ps. xxiv. 2 is " founded upon the seas 
(d-^g:) and established upon the floods (ninnj)," this also 
corresponds to the Babylonian conception ; see p. 143. In the 
beginning all was sea ; the earth was built upon it ; therefore 
the ocean was not only around, but also under the earth. So 
in Gen. vii. 11 the fountains of the great teliom were opened at 
the Flood (see Chap. X.), and in Gen. xlix. 25 blessings come from 
tehom " that coucheth beneath " as they do from heaven above. 

What ave the windoivs of heaven (mnx), Gen. vii. 11 ; 2 Kino-s 
vii. 2; Isa. xxiv. 18; Mal. iii. 10.^ Is it merelya ijoetic expression 
for rain > Or is it connected with the still unintelligible mysterious 
" waters that are above " which were shut ofF by a khoq (holt) ? 
see p. 149. 

We find in the Biblical as in the Babylonian presentment a 
'populär idea also which, alongside the division into heaven, 
earth, and water, puts heaven above as God's dwelling-place, 
earth as nian's abode, and the Underworld beneath the earth as 
the place of the dead. 

The heavens are the heavens of Yahveh, but the earth liath he 
given to the children of men ; they that go down into silence praise 
not Yahveh. (Ps. cxv. I6 f.). 

Ask thee a sign, in the dei)ths of the Underworld or in the 
heights above (Isa. vii. 11). His wisdom is high as heaven, deeper 
than the Underworld (Job xi. 8). 

They must have seen by the arch of the Milky Way that the 
heavens formed a rounded vault. In the Greek age this is shown 
by Eccles. i. 5, in Biblical docunients : " The Sxm also ariseth, 
and the sun goeth down and hasteth to Ms place xchere he ariseth:'' 

^ P. 18S. Upon the " deliverance "' which is brought from the "seas" by 
Marduk, comp. p. 107, n. 2. 



192 THE BIBLICAL RECORD OF CREATION 

The Greeks spoke of the antipodes (Macrobius, i. 21, see 
p. 128, also Aristarcus as early as the third Century b.c.), and 
knew that the earth is a globe. 

We must entirely separate the " scientific " conception from 
the poetic description, chiefly to be found in the Psahins, which 
paints the universe as a visible building of which earth is the 
lower and heaven the upper floor, where God dwells with 
the higher beirigs, and garners up provisions, whilst the sea 
(Dirrn, that is, y-^^ ''DDNi^ corresponding to the Babylonian 
apsü) garners the water Springs. It is thus in Ps. xxxvi. 

The author of Ps. civ. also will have nothing to do with 
cosraological descriptions. He describes how the majesty of 
God pervades the whole natural world, and draws his own 
pictures, though by isolatecl expressions {raqia'', Leviathan) he 
betrays his knowledge of the mythology. 

B. Dulim in his Commentarx) on the Psalms (Ps. xxxvi. and civ.) 
has built up the Biblical picture of the universe exactly like the 
poetic descriptions, which have nothing to do with a systeni. At 
the same time he underestimates the cosmological knoAvledge of 
the Isi'aelites "■ Although the Jews were scattered throughout 
the whole world, yet their knowledge of the real world (the 
conception of the universe is meant) is much less than that of the 
Greeks, because they had no idea of a scientific collection and 
treatment of the scattered knowledge" (p. xxvi.). From the Bible 
alone we could in nowise conie to this conclusion. The Icarned 
Jews in Bahylnn had mnstered all the knowledge of their time as mitcli 
as the other Oriental scholars of that age, as the Hellemstic Jews did that 
of their time, and as the medieval Jews were conversant with Islamic 
knowledge. Duhm's interpretation of the conception of the 
universe clearly shows Greek influence. Also in Schiaparelli's 
book Astronomy in the Old Testament, the presentments founded upon 
" science " are unfortunately not kept separate from the poetic 
expressions. 

Co.MBAT BETWEEN YaHVEH AND THE DuAGON 

Oriental mythology is refleeted in several passages in the Old 
Testament, where Yahveh's strife with, and victory over, dragon- 
like beings, or over primeval water personified in Tehom, are 

' In that case the word would then be etymologically separated from äpcs, " all 
being." 



COMBAT BETWEEN YAHVEH AND DRAGON 193 

described.i H. Gimkel has dealt with this problem very 
exhaustively in bis book Schöpfung xmd Chaos. But only 
portions of the passage treated by Gunkel show a really mytho- 
logical character in their form. From the passages which 
speak of the creation of the world by Yahveh directly after the 
combat, both Zimmern and Gunkel have drawn the conclusion 
that here are shovvn clear traces of a more ancient history of 
creation, which is more nearly related to the Babylonian myth 
contained in the epic Eniima elish than Gen. i. in its present 
form, and that the strife of the creating God, which was origin- 
ally known to the Israelites, was purposely suppressed in Gen. i., 
leaving, howevei-, in the name Tehom as primeval water, a faint 
trace behind. There seems no doubt that the strife between 
Yahveh and Tehom and the combat between Marduk and Tiamat 
belong to the same cycle of ideas. But just as we reject the theory 
of a borrowed literature, and assert that it is much more a ques- 
tion of a common mythological ancestry, so also we dismiss the 
view which sees in the allusions in some passages of the Old 
Testament a residuum of the ancient Israelite religion in Opposi- 
tion to the purified religious conceptions of a later time. 

The passages concerned, in Job, in Isaiah, and in the Psalms, 
are poetic pictures taking form and colour from the Ancient- 
Orienta] mythology which was known in Canaan, exactly as do 
some Christian orations, especially some sermons, only zce have 
the Inspiration of northern as well as of Oriental mythology.- 

When the Israelite wished to describe the strife of Yahveh 
against the powers of evil, he clothed bis story in a picture of 
the combat with Rahab or Leviathan, mythological monsters, 
just as he thought of the Ancient-Oriental River of Death 
when he wished to describe the fear of death (" the floods of 
Belial made me afraid," Rs. xviii. 4).3 The author of the sacer- 
1 Comp. B.N.T., 36 ff. 

- We may compare Luthers Articies of Smalkald with its combat against the 
tail of the Dragon in Roma, also the pictures in Heliand and in Titurel. Many 
songs in the hymn-books are füll of mythological fancies— for example, the old 
Easter songs which celebrate the victory of Christ. 

^ It would be just as mistaken to conclude ancient elements in the Israelite 
religion from this as it would be to conclude Greek religion in Schiller's time 
because in his poem Die Glocke he makes the beloved wife to be borne away by 
the dark King of Shadows. 

VOL. I. 13 



194 THE BIBLICAL RECORD OF CREATION 

dotal books avoided all such poetic play of fancy because of his 
strong desire to avoid even an appearance of any mythological 
heathen presentment.^ 

The raost important passages in this connection are the 
following : — 

Job. xxvi. ]2 f. : He stiiTeth vp the sea with his power, 

and hy his iinderstanding he smiteth throiigh Rahab 

(mascul.), 
By his wind .... the heavejis, 
his hand hnth pierced the nahash (serpent) bariakh.'^ 

Comparethe " helpers of Rahab, who bowed themselves under Yahveh," Job ix. 
13, with the " helpers of Tiamat," p. 146. In Job iii. 8, " they that curse the day " 
(sects of sorcerers ?), therefore opponents of light, that is to say, of the God of Light, 
are in alliance with Leviathan and Rahab, in connection with which note that in 
Enuma elish, i. 109, the gods inimical to Marduk curse the day " and ränge 
themselves upon the side of Tiamat. 

Ps. Ixxxix. 1 fF. : Thou hast broken .... Rahab (v. 9^ comp. Job ix. 
13, parallel "sea") 
Thou hast scattered thine enemies with a strong arm ; 
the heavens are thine, the earth also is thine, 
tebel (the earth^ in Opposition to rakia') and the 
fulness thereof, thon hast founded tJtevi. 
Isa. li. 9 f- "• Awake, awake, put on strength, arm of Yahveh ! 

atvake as in the days of old, the generations of ancieni 

thnes ! 
Art thou not it that cut Rahab in pieces, 
the tannin ■*....? ^ 
Ps. Ixxiv. 13 : Thott didst break up the sea by thy strength : 

thou brakedsi the heads of the tanmmm in the waters ; 
tho}i brakedst the heads of Leviathan ''' in pieces . . . . 

' Comp. p. 175. Another example : the Elohist speaks offen of the angels. 
The Yahvist puts Yahveh in their place (Gen. xxviii.). He probably knew that 
from a harmless angelology to the heathen view, as in fact it developed into in 
later Judaism, was a very small step. So he avoided the angels altogether. 

- Here the zodiacal presentment of the writhing Dragon in the north heaven 
and the Serpent in the south heaven lies at the root. 

^ Interpretation in any case very uncertain. 

•* For fannifui, earth, properly speaking, dragon, see p. 149, n. 7. 

^ In the description they were thinking in particular, as the continuation of this 
passage shows, of the victory over Egypt in primeval ages and of the passage 
through the Red Sea ; see p. 93, ii. and comp. p. 196. But it does not follow 
that one must see specially Egyptian mythological elements in it (Rahab niay be 
an emblem of the crocodile) ; see p. 152. 

^ Hrozny sees a correspondence with the Labbu dragon, monster of Babylonian 
mythology, pp. 195 f. ; see 7)/. J^.A. G., 1903, pp. 264 ff. For Leviathan as many- 
headed serpent, comp. p. 152, n 2. 



COMBAT BETWEEN YAHVEH AND DRAGON 195 

Then follow the songs of praise to tlie Creator wlio has made 
moon and sun, the day and the seasons. 

Isa. xxvii. 1 : In that day shall Yahveh draw Ms sickle-sword^ 

agamst Leviafhaii, the na/ja.sli hariakh, and agahist 
Leviathan^ the crookcd nahash, and he .shall slay the 
taiimn thai in in the sea.'^ 

Isa. xxiv. 21 ff. is a passage which hitherto has not gained 
sufficient attention as showing the relationship in form between 
the Babylonian and the Biblical presentment. The combat of 
Yahveh against a hostile world is described in the same form 
in which we find the combat of Marduk against Tiamat and 
the hostile gods presented.^ Yahveh conquers the heathen 
kings and the " host of the height," that is, the stars, including 
sun and moon (comp, verse 23, therefore the ruling gods of 
the Ancient-East). The end is to be that Yahveh overthrows 
their power and imprisons them, as Ea does Mummu and 
Marduk does the helpers of Tiamat, and his dominion extends 
throughout the v.orld from Zion as centre.* 

The teaching of the e.vpectatwn of a Redeemer who is to bring 
the new age is veiled in mythology in the combat of Marduk 
with the Dragon. We found traces of this teaching in Babylonia, 
see pp. 107 ff. and comp. p. 185, and on Persian ground it is 
especially clear, pp. 161 f.' 

In the Biblical presentation also of the expectation of the 
Redeemer the Dragon combat is used. It may be noticed in 
the deliverance out of Egypt. Egypt was the dark power 
which had to be conquered before the era of Israel could dawn, 
and therefore we meet with the Dragon motif in the Exodus. 
In pi'ophetic imageiy Egypt often appears as the primordial 
monster.'' In Tobit viii. 3 the evil spirit is banished to Egypt 
(=the Underworld) and bound there. The strife in Dan. vii. 
9 ff. seems to be connected with the ages of the world system. 

' For Marduk's weapons, see Winckler, F., iii. 220 f. ; comp. p. iio, above. 
Tlie crescent sword is moon motif, see fig. 15. 

- For tannin, see Isa. li. 9 f. and p. I49, n. 7- Kautzsch, " crocodile of the 
Nile," see p. 194, n. 5, above. 

•^ Bousset,y?'/ürY5(r/ie Apokalyplik, holds that the passage shows Persmji influence. 
But (apart from the similarity of idea) it is quite certainly "genuine." 

"* Verse 22,l> is an addition ; the previous sentences use ancient words and ideas. 

■'■ Ps. Ixxxvii. 4, Ixxxix, 11 ; Isa. xxx. 7, li. 9 ; see p. 194. 



196 THE BIBLICAL RECORD OF CREATION 

The "son of man'*' appears in the judgment assembly, in the 
clouds of heaven.^ He has slain the beast, who spoke great 
words,- and as a reward dominion and glory and a kingdoni 
are given to him.^ The final age corresponds here to the 
primeval age. The Dragon combat begins after the expulsion 
from Paradise. In Gen. iii. 15 the strife is begun and it is a 
long-continued strife, to coine to an end in the final age. 

CONCLUDING WORUS UPON " CrEATION " 

The deductions presented above should be sufficient to show 
that the records of creation in Genesis are, according to their 
form and the conception of the world lying at their root, 
derived from the same common source as the other Ancient- 
Oriental cosmogonies. 

The })revailing assumption of a l'üeranj depoidcncc of the H 
Biblical records of creation upon Babylonian texts is very 
frail, and, in view of the universality of the idea of the be- 
ginning and development of the worlds, need not be considered 
at all, or at any rate (as in the case of the Flood) only in a very 
secondary degree.'* When an Israelite discoursed about crea- 

^ This motif of the Judgment Day is to be found in the New Testament 
apocalyptic, Matt. xxvi. 64, and Rev. i. 7. Possibly storm phenomena are meant. 
Comparison with the combat against Labbii leads to this conjecture (see p. 152, 
back of the text), where the victor appears in storm with the seal of life before 
his face. 

- Comp. p. 149, Tiamat's appearance. 

•* Further detail in Dan. vii. The present text has bUirred the picture. It is 
the same scene as in Rev. iv. f., where the apvlov appears as victor and receives the 
books of Fate, see B.N. T., 13 f. ; comp, also B.N.T., pp. 94 f., where Matt. iv. 
is made clear in this connection. 

■* H. Gunkel says further, with careful reservations (see Genesis, ist ed., 109 f.), 
that the Hebrew tradition, or rather the presupposed primeval record contained in 
the first chapter of Genesis, must in the first instance be dependent upon the Baby- 
lonian myth (and only the myth contained in the epic Enuma elish is meant ; the 
Babylonian record treated at pp. 142 ff. has hardly been noticed at all, though it is 
more nearly related to Gen. i. than is the epic), because both traditions have in com- 
mon the partingof the primeval waters, and because this tradition is only imaginable 
in a land where, in winter, in the dark time of the year, water reigned everywhere, 
but in spring, when the nevv light arose, the waters divided above and below. 
One must therefore concUide a land where the winter rains and great floods 
determine the climate : such a land Canaan was not, but Babylon was. Bat the 
disruption of Tiamat, which corresponds to the cosmic myth underlying the story. 



CONCLUDING WORDS UPON ^'CREATION" 19T 

tion his mind unconsciously but of necessity moved in the 
cycle of thought of the Ancient-Oriental presentment. And 
even when he had new religious ideas to communicate, still 
the form and the imagery he used must inevitably have been 
influenced by his surrounding world. 

The pre-eminence of the Biblical story in the first and second 
chapters of Genesis over all other heathen, and especially over 
the Babylonian cosmogony, and its religious valiie lies, in our 
opinion, in the following points : ^ 

1. In the absolute certainty with which God is spoken about. 
All heathen stories of creation teil at the same time of the 
origni of the gods ; the cosmogonies are connected with theo- 
gonies. The God who, in Gen. i., made heaven and earth, 
Stands sublime above his works. 

2. The powers moving in creation and the separate parts of 
the visible creation appear in the other Oriental cosmogonies 
as gods and monsters. The teaching which looks upon all 
phenomena of nature as the work of one divine power is every- 
where eise mythological. With the Biblical chronicler only 
faint traces remain in the poetry of the language (" tohu and 
bohu;' -^the spirit of God brooded"). He knows the ideas of 
his age and the teaching about the origin of the worlds. This 
" science " is not an end in itself, but serves him as a means of 
expression for quite unprecedented religious thoughts. There 
is not a trace to be found in Gen. i. of any mytholoo-ical 
personifications. 

3. The attitude of the Biblical story of creation is one of 
prayer and gratitude towards the almighty Creator and Pre- 
server of the world. We may compare the lyrical echo of the 
first chapter of Genesis in the 104th Psalm. The heathen 
cosmogonies did not lend themselves to religious ends. The 
epic Enuma elish, for example, has a political pui-pose : it goes 
to prove that the dominion of the world belongs to Babylon ; 
its tutelary god Marduk was the creator of the woi-ld. 

is to be explained by the conception of the universe, not by cHmatic circumstances. 
Nikel, Genesis und Keilschrißforsclmng, p. 75, with whose presentment of the 
picture of the universe I cannot altogether agree, raises the same objection. 
1 See Kampf um Babel und Bibel, 4th ed., p. 17. 



198 THE BIBLICAL RECORD OF CREATION 

The Week of Sevex Days and the Sabbath 

Gen. ii. 3 : " And God blessed the seventh day, and halloived itr 
The week of seven days running through the whole solar 
year is a pecuharity of the Israelite calendar, and the institu- 
tion of this continuous procession of weeks (shabti''a., comp. 
Gen. xxix. 27 ; Judges xiv. 17) ^ marks a great spiritual step. 
Whence the Israelites took it is not known. They certainly 
did not invent it for themselves ; we find no traces that the 
Israelites ever occupied themselves with cultural matters. In 
these they were always entirely dependent. Material up to 
the present time available shows in Babylon only a continuous 
succession of five-day weeks il:hamuslitii)r The hemerologists 
known to us include the week of seven days only within isolated 
months. Traces of a recurring week of seven days may be seen 
in the signification of the nineteenth day, which was distin- 
guished as 7x7 = forty-ninth day, counting from the begin- 
ning of the previous nionth, and in the emphasis (spoken of at 
p. 31) upon the number fifty (50x7 = 350, i.e. the lunar 
year) as the sign for the complete year, that is to say, of 
the cycle of the universe ; the number fifty is conferred as a 
title of honour upon Marduk, and Ninib-Ningirsu, who rules 
over the north point, the meta of the solar course, dwells in 
"Temple 50." 

It is an interesting question whether the Babylonian " seven 
days " are connected with the lunar phases or not."^ We cannot 

1 A trace of a week of ten days customarily used at the same time may perhaps 
be found in Exod. xii. 3 ; the month would then be divided into three tens, 
Lev. xvi. 29, xxiii. 27, xxv. 9 ; the tenth day of the month dedicated to 
abstinence and rest, a day of reconciliation : comp, also the form of speech ' " one 
day or ten," Gen, xxiv. 55. It corresponds to the division of the cycle into 
36 decani: 10 x 36 = 360, the complete cycle, see p. 12. 

2 Pp. 64 f. 

'■* Comp. p. 44. The predominance of the week of seven or of five days, or any 
other uniform number, rests upon political historical contingencies. In the East 
the calendar was compiled by the State, and so, under varying circumstances, a 
varying week predominated. Europe inherits the week of seven days from the 
Romans, and it reached Rome from the East. Each number is "sacred," and 
therefore suitable for the calendar in so far as it rests upon astral calculations. It 
was the business of calendar science to show how every number it used fitted into 
the System of the, universe. 



WEEK OF SEVEN DAYS AND THE SABBATH 199 

imagine any period of its civilisation when the week of seven 
days woiild not have been connected with the planets ; on the 
other hand, it is not iniaginable that in any age it would not 
have been connected with the idea of the seven planets. What 
is Said in the Nabataean writing Dimeshqi, chap. x. (Chwolsohn, 
Ssabier, ii. 400), applies to the entire Ancient-East as known 
from the recovds : " The seven planets govern the world." ^ It 
goes without saying that the number seven in the case of the 
days of the week would be endowed with a religious significa- 
tion. Why has the week seven days ? The Israelite answered : 
Because the world was created in a week of seven days. That 
is a puiely Oriental idea in Israelitish garb. All the earthly 
institutions were founded upon celestial precedent. But these 
religious foundations do not exclude the probability that 
originally other observations lay at the root of the number 
seven. 

It is obvious that seven is the specially sacred number in the 
Bible.- We meet with a connection with the seven planets in 
many cases : in the ecclesiastical Council of the 'ohel mo^ecl ; in 
the seven messengers of God in Ezek. ix. 2, where the seven th with 
the writer's inkhorn is reminiscent of Nebo-Mercury ; the seven 
eyes and sevens lamps, Zech. iii. 9, iv. 2, and comp. Rev. ii. 1 ; the 
seven pillars of wisdom, Prov. ix. 1. Possibly also, as has offen 
been conjectured, the origin of the word swear lies in this : nishha, 
from sheha\ " seven.'' -^ 

The Sabbath as the seven th day. " God hlessed the seventh 

^ Comp. pp. 15, 38, 66 f. Kugler connects the week of seven days with the moon 
from the most ancient times, and relegates the rise of the Babylonian seven-day 
week into an age before they understood how to define the lunar phases. " Since 
the fourteenth was the day of the füll moon, it was natural to place the firstand the 
last quarter on the seventh and twenty-first days. Hence, in the later astronomical 
inscriptions, they call the day of the füll moon simply the ' fourteenth day,' even 
though they knew quite well it could fall upon the thirteenth or fifteenth " (extract 
from a letter to the author). 

- That is to say, the System of division by seven is the foundation of the Biblical 
conception. That it is seven and no other number (3, 5, or 10) is consequent 
upon the "scientific" theory which lies at the root of the Biblical laws (of Moses?). 

^ Abraham, Gen. xxi. 28 ff., swears by Beersheba, i.e. "seven Springs'' 
(Pleiades?), and there offers seven lambs. Herodotus, iii. 8, relates that the Arabs 
ratify their contracts with seven stones sprinkled with blood, calling upon the two 
Chief planet divinities, Dionysos and Urania, that is, sun and moon. 



200 THE BIBLICAL RECORD OF CREATION 

day, and hallowed it.''^ Comp. Isa. Iviii. IS : Upon the Sabbath, 
the holy day, the day of Yahveh, the day of delight, no work may 
be done. F. Delitzsch, in Babel ii. Bibel, i., p. 29, says that " we 
have to thank the ancient civilisations of the Euphrates and the 
Tigris for the blessings contained in the Sabbath, that is to say, 
in the Sunday rest." This is only relatively correct. From the 
foregoing deductions it cannot be doubted that Oriental con- 
nections are naturally to be found. 

According to the hemerologists known up to the present, the 
Babjlonians had a seventh day which was in the first instance 
an " evil day," upon which many things should not be under- 
taken because it brought misfortune. They had also a day 
which they called shabattum, and which they explained to be um 
mikh libbi, " day of peace of heart " (of the gods). But there is no 
proof that this shabathtm was the seventh day, nor that it was 
a day of rest in the sense of Isa. Iviii. 13. 

IV. R. 32 treats of the seventh day amongst tlie Babylonians. 
The regulations certainly do not apply only to the king. On the 
seventh day, it is said^ and on the fourteenth, twenty-first, twenty- 
eighth, and on the nineteenth (that is, the 7 x 7th day, reckoning 
from the beginning of the previous month), the regulations are 
repeated (with the exception ofthose in square braekets).^ 

VII. day [mibattum (dedicated to) Marduk and ZarpanitumJ a 
favourable day. 

Evil day. The shepherd (king or high priest.'^) of the great 

people — 
Flesh^ which is cooked upon coal, meats Avhich with fire (have 

come in contaet) shall he not eat, 
he shall not change his coat, he shall not put on clean garments, 
He shall pour no libation, the king shall not ascend into a 

chariot ! 
he shall not . . . .- no decision shall be made, in the secret 

place 
no oracle shall speak^ 

the physician shall not lay his hand upon the sick, 
the day is not suitable for any business. 

[By night (at break of day) the king shall bring his sacrifice, 
Pour libation — and the lifting up of his hands shall be accept- 
able to God]. 

^ Comp. Delitzsch, Babel und Bibel, i. pp. 6i ff. 

2 Shal-tish (Variation, K 3597 in Bezold's Catalogue, shal-thi-ish) i-tam-nie, 
Interpretation not certain. 



WEEK OF SEVEN DAYS AND THE SABBATH 201 

That this seventh day was also a day of rest certainly does 
not follow. The inference which Delitzsch draws from the 
circumstaiice that shabätu is synonymous with gamäru is not 
absolutely conclusive.- The idea of gamäru to soine extent 
agrees with ii day of reconciliation ; for gamäru is a technical 
term for paying off a debt." Without doubt its foundation is 
in some conception which was carried over into the Biblical 
religion. And even without any cuneiform proof the relation- 
ship. seems very probable, if only because of the development 
of the sabbatical idea in late Jewdsh times clearly under Baby- 
lonian influence,^ that this or that might not be done, because 
it would bring misfortune.* And if the Jewish holy day and 
day of rest has grown out of an Ancient-Oriental unlucky rest- 
day, it is one of the many strong proofs of the reforming and 
elevating power of the religion of Yahveh. 

The heathen Oriental idea of the seventh day being unlucky, 
of which we can find proof only in late Judaism, but which 
certainly existed in the form of a superstition in ancient Israel,^ 
is undoubtedly connected with the planet of misfortune, Saturn. 
This is shown in early Christian times by Tacitus, History, v. 4 
— perhaps also bv the Talmud designation of Saturn as the star 

' One may perhaps adduce as an argument for the "day of rest" the name 
nubathim, which the seventh day bears (it is true the third and the sixteenth also). 
K 6i8, 26 {B.A., i. 225), uiiit- nti-bat-te certainly denote " days of rest." 
Nubattum is otherwise called " Station." In the epic of (iilgamesh (tablet xi., 
318 f., comp. Tablet V., K.B., vi. 162, 252) the Wanderers cook after every 
twenty units of the road {iksupn kiisapd), and after every thirty units they make 
nubattu ("Station" ; I interpreted it so in 1891 in Isdtibar-Niinrod ; Jensen, K.B., 
vi. 253: "death-dirge "). If nubattu denotes rest at eventide, that agrees 
alniost with the habit of the desert journeys : t to the mid-day Station, \ in 
the afternoon to the evening camp. Since kaspu is a double hour, it has certainly 
to do with gigantic marches, which, however, is nothing very unusual in a myth. 

- See Kugler, S. J., Babylon und Christentuiii, p. 16. 

^ One has only to compare the Jewish laws of things enjoined and forbidden, 
with the rules of the Shurpu table, for instance, as they are rendered in Chap. VI. 

•* Further detail in Kampf um Babel und Bibel, p. 37 f. As a characteristic 
example we may also add : the fictitious sale in shops with mixed wares during the 
Passover. 

■' In the case of such general conceptions there is no very marked difference 
between earlier and later Judaism. Differentiation between Judaism before and 
after the Exile must be given up. The contrast between joy and grief, blessing 
and cursing, was always present. Friday is to us the höhest day, and yet it is 
considered an unlucky day. 



202 THE BIBLICAL RECORD OF CREATION 

of the Sabbath,^ Anyoiie in the Ancient-East speaking of 
Saturn would think of misfortune as inevitably as we connect 
light and warmth with the sun. The Jewish tradition noted by 
Beer in Lehen Mosis (manuscript) carries also sorae proof in 
regard to this. Moses arranged a day of rest for his countrymen 
with Pharaoh in Egypt. " What day wilt thou have for it?" 
asks the king. " The seventh day, sacred to Saturn ; work done 
upon this day never prospers ! "" 

New material upon this subject has been provided by one of 
the Lists discovered by Th. Pinches in which the fifteenth day 
is named as shapattiJ That is the day of the füll moon, when 
the moon is at the highest point of its course through the 
ecliptic (see fig. 15). It may be assumed that, counting back- 
wards and forwards, the eighth and the first and the twenty- 
second day would be called shapaitu, and that therefore in this 
way the moon provided a seven-day week.^ The objections to 
the connection of the week of seven days with the lunar course 
are noted at pp. 45 and 198. It would also not agree with a 
continuous week, but only be a division, beginning afresh with 
each month as in the Assyrian hemerologies. We therefore 
assume that the Sabbath is, by its astral source, a planetary day, 
the day of the suvimus deiis.^ 

H. Winckler, in his Religions geschichtler und geschichtlicher Orient 
(J. C. Hinrichs, Leipzig, 1906) treats of the calendar in his con- 
clusion, pp. 55 ff., and is also of opinion that the week of seven days 

^ The planet certainly may take its name 'nar froni Sabbath ; see Schürer, 
Geschichte des Jüdischen Volkes, iü. 430. 

" Ymches, shapaiiu, the Babylonian Sabbath, Proc. of the Soc. of Bibl. Arch., 
1904, 51 ff. ; compare with that, Zimmern, Z.D.M.G., 1904, 199 ff., 458 ff- The 
opinion held by Delitzsch, that it should read shapatti, " middle (day) of the month," 
is not tenable. Shabattu is repeatedly written with the sign which must be read 
pat. 

^ The Avestic calendar notes the ist and 8th and isth and 23rd as sacred to 
Ormuzd. The aßrd (at least according to Jackson in his Handbook of Iranian 
Philology) Puzzles me. One counts twelve months of thirty days, five intercalary 
days, every hundred and twenty years one intercalary month. The thirty days 
are divided 14+ 16. 

^ Saturn would be held as suinnms deus in so far as the Sabbath is Saturn's day. 
This, infact, shows in Spanish Judaism, which has retained the clearest connection 
with the Ancient-Oriental mysteries. The spirit of Saturn inspires the prophet ; 
see Neander, Etzvtcif eines gnostischcii Systems, p. 266. 



WEEK OF SEVEN DAYS AND THE SABBATH 203 

is not connected with the lunar course, bat with the division of 
time by the seven planets (p. 39). The Sabbath is chiefly the day of 
füll moon, corresponding to the culmination of the lunar course 
which once in the month touches the heaven of the siivuniis deus. 
Upon the other hand, the highest point is attained by the ascent of 
the planet towev, and therefore eveiy seventh day is Sabbath. 
The character of the Sabbath as Saturn's day (see p. 202, n. i), 
may, however, be known by the Sabbath of" the Bible secedino- 
from the teaching of moon-woi-ship and attaching itself to the 
sun-worship (Satum-Nergal = sun, see p. 30).i The Sabbath as 
seventh day includes, therefore, both— the ?iame corresponds to 
the lunar course, the connection with Saturn refers to the solar 
signification, and this entirely agrees with the principle that in 
the calendar it is not sun or moon separately, but both are equally 
iniportant. 

The text of the statue of Gudea B, 3, ] 5 ff. bears record of the 
character of a day as day of rest. It is said at the temple festival 
of Ninib (to whom in his lunar character the north point, therefore 
the point of the füll moon, belongs (see p. 30), on account of which it 
is possible it may be treating of a festival of the füll moon, therefore 
of a shapaltu) : 

" No one was Struck with the whip, the mother corrected not 
her child, the householder, the overseer, the labourer .... the 
Avork of their hands ceased. In the graves of the city . . . . no 
corpse was buried. The Kahl played'no psalm, uttered no dirge, 
the wailing woman let no dirge be heard. In the realm of Lagash 
no man who had a lawsuit went to the hall of justice. No . . . . 
broke into any house." 

1 It cannot be Egyptian, as Winckler takes it, but may correspond to the 
Babylonian Age of Marduk, which is the Sun Age in contradistinction to the pre- 
Babylonian Moon Age ; see pp. 72 ff. 



CHAPTER V 



PARADISE 



Gen. ii. 8: '■'•And thc Lord God plante d a gcorlen in Eden, in 
Qedem [properly speaking, ßvtn Qedevi], and there he pid thc 
man lühom he hadjhnned." 

A garden is planted by God in the wilderness.^ Eden is the 
land where the garden - lay. It was only later (for exaniple, Ezek. 
xxviii. 13) that Eden itself was spoken of as the garden of God, 
and by populär etymology the word eden, " wonder," is in the 
name. 

The chronicler tliinks of the garden as in Babylon. This is 
distinctly shown by the names of the rivers. " In Qedem " is a 
celestial direction point, " eastward "" lies Shinar, Babylonia. 
But according to the scientific teaching of the idea of the 
universe and of its development (see pp. 78 and 175), Paradise 
is a cosmic place, and Eden and Qedem have at bottom cosmic 
meaning.'^ In this sense cdinu, " the wilderness,"" corresponds 

' Edinu appears in one of the so-called Syllabaries of cuneiform literature (S'') 
as synonym for iscrti, " desert." Cuneiform sources seem also to supply a geo- 
graphica! conception of " Eden" in the name Gu-edin-na. Even if Hommel's far- 
reaching hypothesis that Gu-edin-na is the ancient name for Chaldea does not hold, 
still the hint is very important, as to where Paradise was located, in the mind of 
the Biblical chronicler. In II. R. 53, 4 Gu-edin-na is named between Nippur and 
Erech. In IV. R. 21*, No. 2, Rev. xix., the goddess of the Western lands Gu-bar- 
na ( = Ashrat) is mistress of Gu-edin-na (II. R. 59, Rev. xliii., Nin-guedin-na, the 
wife of Martu). In the lists of the kings of Ur we meet with a river När-edin-na, 
and in the inscriptions of Telloh there is a river Kish-edin-na (complete material 
in Hommel, Geogr. u. Gesch., 241 ff.). 

^ The corresponding Babylonian word for the Hebrew word gaii, "garden," 
occurs in the plural gaiinäti in the subscription of a "garden tablet " which 
numbers sixty-two garden plants (and the names of six tools) and bears the subscrip- 
tion : Gardens of the (Babylonian) king Merodach-baladan ; see Delitzsch, Hand- 
wörterbuch, p. 202. 

^ Com.p. Winckler, /'., iii. 311 ff. 

204 



PARADISE 205 

to the terrestrial universe, the Underworld, from out of which 
the worlds arise ; that is to say, ocean, in which the Underworld 
is a topos, in a narrow sense (see p. 8).^ Qedem is the further 
side, therefore by the Kibla answering to the south, the point 
whence the worlds arise (p. 32), the under half of the world. 
Adam dwelling in Eden and mankind proceeding thence, 
correspond.s to the Babylonian teaching, according to which 
Adapa is niade in Eridu at the niouth of the rivers (this also 
cosmic). That the chronicler knew the cosmic meaning^ is 
shown at chap. xi. 2 : " And H came to pass; as they journeyed 
froni Qedem, thet/fouiid a p/am in the land o/ Shinar ; " possibly 
also chap. ii. 8 : ^' He planted the garden in Eden, from Qedem." ^ 
And the Biblical garden is the dwelling-place of Yahveh, corre- 
sponding to the Mountain of God, the throne of the divinity. 
Therefore it is to be thought of also as a sacred mountain, as 
niay clearly be seen in Ezekiel's description of Paradise. 

Chap. iii. 8 : " Ycdiveh ivcdked in the garden in the cool of the 
evening." 

Later, in treating of the Tree of Life, etc., we shall meet with 
many Babylonian presentments of a Paradise in which the 
divinity dvvells, also man, who Stands in close relation to 
the divinity. 

Since every -' land " is a microcosmos it follows that we find 
countless repetitions of Paradise. Eridu ^ in South Babylonia 
is an earthly picture of Paradise (see pp. 105, 214); also 
Babylon. The populär etymological meaning of the name as 
Bab-ilu, " Gate of God '^ (" High door "), denotes the city as 
an earthly copy of the celestial throne of God (see Gen. xxviii., 
Jacob's dreain). The sacred cedar mountain and cedar wood, 

' The Paradise where Gilgamesh, the Babylonian Noah, finds his ancestor, is 
beyond the inouth of the rivers, after passing over the River of Death. " Eden " 
is a play of words ; "in Eden" never once quite answers to Babylon, it lies 
beyond the desert to the east. 

" The time corresponds to the place; gedeni, " pasL ages," also betrays in 
Hebrew the knowledge of the cosmic meaning contained in the idea. 

'■• The Interpretation "eastwards" (Ges. -Buhl) or " far in the east " (Gunkel) 
is forced. In a purely geographica! sense miqqedem is 'from eastward," Isa. ix. 
12 ; that has no meaning in this passage. Also in Gen. iii. 24 Qedem bears the 
meaning "in front of " = southward, not eastward ; see p. 218, n. 5. 

^ The rivers Euphrates and Tigris fornierly flowed into the sea divided by Eridu. 



206 PARADISE 

vvith the "throne of the gods, the holy of holies of the 
Ivnini/' where the Elamite hero Humbaba " raoves with 
pleasant steps upon smooth ways " is, according to the meaning 
of the epic, possibly Babylon, which was once under Elamite 
dominion.^ In the Biblical ränge of vision Damascus is a 
microcosmie Paradise with its sacred rivers (2 Kings v. 12), also 
Tyre (Ezek. xxviii. 2 ff.); and in ancient Canaanite time the 
district of Sodom and Gomorrha (Gen. xiii. 10, where " like the 
land of Egypt" is a commentary). The Biblical chronicler in 
Gen. iii. describes the Paradise of a niore ancient age, in days 
before the Israelite era. In the ancient Israelite era Bethel 
was held as central point of the miiverse ; in historic times 
Zion-Moriah is the Throne of God ; see Ezek. xlvii. 1 ff. 
Ezekiel also knew of the cosmic Paradise (Eridu), Ezek. xxviii. 13 
(p. 216) ; it is even possible to read Eridu instead of Eden. 

We have a description of the cosmic Paradise in the Under- 
^vorld — that is to say, in the Ocean — in the epic of Gilgamesh, 
where the hero finds a garden of the gods with miraculous trees 
bearing precious stones, and beyond the fiood of Death the 
dwelling of Ut-napishtim, who with his wives has '• entered into 
the assembly of the gods " since the Deliige, and now lives " afar 
at the mouth of the rivers." Here is the " bathing-place "" 
where the leprous (?) hero becomes " pure as snow "" after the 
two inhabitants have through magic arts given him " life.'"" 
Here may be found the plant which makes the old man young 
ao-ain - (see p. 215). We hear of no other inhabitants, but we 
may take it for granted the Babylonians would think of this 
Elysium as peopled with many more. It is said of Enmeduranki 
in the same way that he was " called to the Company of the 
gods" (p. 51). 

' See Izdubar-Nimrod, p. 23. According to Anian and Strabo, Alexander 
the Great felled cypress trees in the sacred groves of Babylon for his navy. 

^ Jensen, ICB., vi., has taken some pains to make the story more intelligible. 
But I may refer to my Interpretation which appeared in 1S86, Assyrisch-baby- 
lo)iische VorsteUmigen vom Leben nach dem Tode, where, for the first time, I gave 
an Interpretation of the continuation of the story of the Deluge, revised later in 
1892 in Izdubar-Nimrod. I had here specially already interpreted the meaning of 
the miraculous plant, and I can only partly accept Jensen's Interpretation. 
Zimmern also, K.A. T,, ßrd ed., 577 ff,, reverts in some points to the old meaning 
suggested by me. 



THE TREES OF PARADISE 207 

There is a surprising parallel in the fables of Enoch. Like 
Gilgamesh^ Enoch reaches Paradise beyond the Erythrasian Sea. 
Enoch Ixv. 2 relates how the hero goes to the end of the world, 
and meets with his srandfather Enoch : he does not wish to ffo 
below with him (just as Gilganiesh bewails his lot to his ancestov 
and fights against death) ; Ixv. 9 it says : "Thereupon my grand- 
father Enoch seized me with his hands, raised me xvp, and said to 
me," etc. It woxild be worth while studying the cosmic journey 
in Lucian's satirical Ve7-ce Historice for its acquaintance with the 
Ancient-Oriental conception of the universe. In it also a paradise 
is describedj also a city with seven gates. 

Of those outside the Bible we may also mention here the 
Persian presentment of Paradise. The traditional '' Paradise " 
(Neh. ii. 8) takes its name from the Zend Parideza, place of the 
blessed in the Persian heroic age. Fifteen heroes dwell there, 
who oiice fouglit the monsters, and who will again take part in 
the last combat.^ 

The Trees of Paradise 
(Gen. ii. 9) 

In so far as Paradise is considered from a cosmic point of 
view, it represents the entire universe in miniature. The two 
trees represent the Upper- and Under-worlds, The Biblical 
chronicle also takes over the cosmic trees. The " tree of life " 
and the " tree of knowledge '' (of good and evil), according to 
chap. iii. ver. 3, grow in the midst of the garden. Super- 
natural qualities belong to both : it is said of the " tree of 
life'" in chap. iii. ver. 22, "' who eats thereof shall live for 
ever "" ; and of the tree of knowledge it is stated at ver. 5, 
" who eats thereof shall be as God.'' It is no longer tenable 
that one of the trees is a later addition, since we learn the 
meaning of hoth trees from the Babylonian cosmos. 

The corollary "of good and evil"" and the corresponding 
amplification in chap. iii. ver. 5 (" ye shall be as gods "") 
" knowing good and evil,'' seems to us to be an Israelite theo- 
logumenon. But precisely this corollary contains the ethical 
idea which raises the story in the third chapter of Genesis so far 
above the populär cosmic myth. The idea in ver. 22 is also 
theologumenon, where the reason for the expulsion is given : 

^ See G. Hüsing in Göll, Mythologie, Sth ed., p. 312. 



208 



PARADISE 



" lest he put forth his band and take also of the tree of life 
and eat and live for ever." Does the story mean that before 
this, man might eat, unforbidden, of the tree of life ? 

The "tree of life" is a universal idea.^ In the Bible we 
find it in Prov. iii. 18, xi. 30, xiii. 12, xv. 4; Ezek. xxviii. 13; 
Rev. ii. 7, xxii. 2. The passages in Ezekiel show that the Biblical 

scribe knew of the cosmic Para- 
dise as well as its earthly replica. 
The reliefs upon an altar found 
by Sellin at l'a'annek, in the 
plains of Jezreel, represent the 
Ti-ee of Life with two ibex and a 
boy wrestling with a serpent.- 

In this also the Biblical story 
shows the influence of the " Baby- 
lonian cosnios,'''' and the under- 
Iving teachiuff is niade use of. 
In the cosmic myth the two trees 
represent life and death, Over- 
world and Underworld. Conse- 
quently they appear in the cosmic 
legends as sun and moon, the 
former representing death and 
the latter life,^ or vice versa.- 
In the Adapa myth they are 
both personified as Tammuz and Gishzida at the gate of the 
heaven of Anu ; comp. p. 126, n. 1. According to the Gudea 
Cyl. B, ix. 1 , Ningishzida is " Lord of the tree to the right " ; 

1 Compare the valuable studies by Wünsche, "Die Sagen vom Lebensbaum 
und Lebenswasser," in the series Ex Oriente lux, Band I., Hefte 2 and 3. 

- Even if the altar itself is of later date (eighth Century), the bridge stone is 
certainly old (Sellin). A Sabsean sacrificial table of Amran (British Museum) also 
shows the tree of life wilh animals ; see fig. 64. The Western religious world uses 
the tree of life as symbol of life triumphing over death. 

^ According to G. Husing, ioc. eil., 313, Homa is the moon as blossom of the 
tree of life (see p. 210), the divine power of the drink of immortality. 

■* P. HO. Ephrem the Syrian calls the tree of life "the sun of Paradise " 
(Wünsche, loc. cit., p. 7). For Helios and Selene as trees of Paradise and highest 
point of the zodiac, see p. 24. In the cosmic cult of the high priest Urim and 
Thummim in the midst of the twelve precious stones (signs of the zodiac) 
correspond to life and death, yea and nay, light and darkness. 




Fk 



. 64. — Sabsean votive tablet. 
Offering in thanksgiving for 
a good harvest. 



THE TREES OF PARADISE 



209 



by this, therefore, Tanimuz would be " Lord of the tree to the 
left " (tree of death) ; in fact, he is called " Lord of kinnuri," 
i.e. the Underworld, and " true son of apsu." 

For the Interpretation we should also consider the hind of 
trees. Mythically, the vine and the fig tree stand for Over- 
world and Underworld, life and death. The intrinsically un- 
suitable " fig leaves, " from which the first garments vvere made, 
possibly owe their origin to the fig tree being the tree of 
knowledge.^ The vine is tree of life (the ideogram being 
" wood of life,'" as wine is "drink of life''; see p. 216). The 











;f;üC^ 



- "</ 



-^ I 



Fig. 65. — Assyrian seal cylinder, with the sacred tree. Brit. Museum. 

" apple tree '' also corresponds to the myth ; here there is a 
connection with the " apple of love." "- In Judaic legends the 
olive is the Tree of Life.^ 

^ See Winckler, F., iii. 3S9. By " knowing," death enters. The lunar cycle 
presents the cosmic phenomenon which the "knowing" (at the füll moon), "the 
marriage," and the foUowing " fall into the power of the Underworld " illustrate ; 
see p. 36, fig. 15. 

" Pomegranate, "apple of Paradise " (tomato?) is meant. In Gen. xxx. 
14 ff. Rachel gives Jacob to her sister Leah for one night for the price of some 
mandrakes, love-apples, or the magic love charm (Septuagint, fxy\\a. ixavSpayopcov ; 
Vulgate, mandragorss ; comp. Stucken, Astralniythen, p. 5), and Leah conceives 
Issachar. Comp. Song of Songs, vii. 14, where the scent of the apple impels to 
love. Note further the apple in the riddle at the festival of Adonis at Samos. 

^ For vine, see B.N.T., 33; for olive, see Wünsche, loc. cit. The mythic 
Pythios, son of Atys (!), in Ilerodotus, vii. 27, meets Xerxes, gives him presents, 
and teils him it is he who gave to his father "the golden palm branch and the 
vol.. I, 14 



210 



PARADISE 



Both terrestrial and celestial worlds arise from the ocean. 
Therefore we find a Paradise in the water realm and in the 
celestial universe, which there is reflected in the microcosmos of 
the earth, where each " land " has its Paradise. The hvo trees, 
then, in the new world which has arisen from out the primeval 
ocean, represent the two halves of the world — that is to say, of 
the cycle : Overworld and Underworld, life and death, the 
power of light and the power of darkness. 

The tree, however, also appears as Tree of the World, repre- 
sentinff the whole world itself, arising out of the Underworld 









Fig. 66. — The sacred tree, with kneeling genii. Relief from palace at Nimrud. 

(water reahn).^ It seems that Ezekiel was familiär with the 
presentment of the Tree of the World, whose roots are in 
Tehom and whose summit grows up into the heavens, and he 
compares Egypt, the Underworld land, with it. 

Ezek. xxxi. 3 ff. : " Behold . . . a cedav [stood] in Lebanon with 
fair branches^ and with a shadowing shroud, and of an high stature ; 
and his top was among the thick cloiids . . . cedars in the 

golden vine," that is to say, the rulership of the world ; see Mücke, Fo»i EtipJLrat 
zum Tiber, p. 92. To this cycle of ideas belong further the olive trees (Sach iv,), 
cedar and vine, beneath which flowed a fountain which became a devastating 
flood, syr. Baruch xxxvi. ; and the miraculous tree of the seven fire mountains, 
Enoch xxiv. 

^ Winckler, F., iii. 312. In theheavens the MilkyWay corresponds tothe tree 
of the world, apparently stretching four wide branches over the water-region ; see 
Stucken, Astralmythen^ p. 72, and Hommel, G.G.G., p. 366. 



THE TREES OF PARADISE 211 

o-arden of God could not liide him, the fiv trees were not like 
his boiighs, and the plane trees were not as Ins branches, nor was 
any tree in the garden of God like unto him in his beauty. I 
made him fair by the multitude of his branches ; so that all the 
trees of Eden tliat were in the garden of God envied him. " 

The Persian cosnio.s ^ pkces prinie\al man in a place which 
appears later as the Mountain of God (Haraburzati, localised 
on earth in Daniävand). Haraburzati ("high niountain ") is in 
the Worukashani Sea, and upon it gvows the Tree of the World, 
iiamed Honia because of its golden blossom. The roots of the 
tree drink from the spring from whence the rivers flow out over 
the earth. 

In connection with the Babylonian " Tree of Life,'" that is to 
say, " Tree of the World," we may also consider the following 
niaterial : — 

1. The sacred tree as portrayed on Babylonian seal cylinders 
and on the reliefs of Assyrian palaces ; a sort of mixture of a 
date tree and conifer. It bears a /n«i,"' which is frequently 
being grasped at by eagle.s or by genii with men's heads. Also 
the cylinder called " the Fall " shows the fruit upon the tree 
(see fig. 69, and comp. figs. 65-67). In other representations 
the genii carry the same fruit in one band (therefore, probably, 
bringing it to mankind), whilst in the other they have a 
basket-like vessel upon the front of which the same picture 
is repeated. Since the fruit undoubtedly has its source in the 
Tree of Life, we may conjecture that the vessel (see pp. 216 ff.) 
contains "Water of Life,'' like the K-arpat egtibbü, "vessel for 
consecrated water," from out of which, according to I\'. R. 57. 
I6b, Marduk distributes grace, and in which, according to IV. 
R. 60. 21a, water is drawn from the stream of the temple of 
Marduk. There is a description of such a Tree of Life in the 
mutilated passage of Ezek. xli. 17 f (Ezek. xxiii. 14 shows 
that the Imagination of the prophet is filled with pictures from 
Babylonian palaces) : 

' The following is according to G. Hüsing, /oc. dt., 312. 

- Comp. Eb. Schrader, Berl. Ak. der Wiss. Monatsbericht, 1881, 413 ff. The 
fruit is probably the date panicle. It is also to be found as decoration on the 
accurate drawings of the brick enamel reliefs in Babylon. Doubtless the gigantic 
panicle of the Damasus court of the Vatican is related. 



212 



PARADISE 



" And it was made (round about the wall) with clierubiiii and 
palm trees ; and a palm tree was between chei'ub and cherub." ^ 
Also the carved walls of the Temple (1 Kings vii. 39) representino; 
" Cherubim and palm trees and open flowers," and the " lions, oxen, 
and Cherubim/' are after the Babylonian pattern. 

2. The sacred cedai- in the cedar wood, that is to say, upon 
the cedar moiintain, in the sanctuary of the Irnini. The com- 




FiG. 67. — Relief fvom Sargon's palace at Khorsabad. 

panions Gilgamesh and Eabani wander to the cedar wood 
where Humbaba guards the sacred cedar : - 

To keep the cedar unharmed {shullumu), 

Bei placed him to make men fear ; 

and whosoever entered his wood swooned away. 

It is Said that when they came near (fablet v., col. i. of 
the epie) : 

They stand gazing at the wood, 
gazing at the height of the cedars, 

* Comparison with the pictures shows that the Hebrew kerub denotes the 
various figures round the tree of life. Exod. xxxvi. 8, they are worked on the 
carpets ; Exod. xxxvi. 35, in the curtains ; i Kings vi. 23 ff., cherubim in the 
temple. 

- K.B., vi. 156 ff. ; previously Izdubar-Nimrod, p. 23. 



THE TREES OF PARADISE 213 

gazing at the entrance of the wood^ 

Avhere Humbaba paced with great strides. 

Paths are made, smooth is the road, 

they gaze at the cedar mountain, the dAvelling- place of the 

godSj the holy of hohes of Irnhii. 
A cedar rears its stateliness before the mountain, 
Pleasant is its shade, filUng with joy . . . . 

According to the foregoing account a river seem.s to spring, 
that is to say, to flow in the neighbourhood of this Paradise 
(sacred tree and holy water). The Elamite name Humbaba 
niay lead to a localisation in Choaspes, the river of Susa, from 
which, according to Herodotus, i. 108, only the kings of Persia 
might drink.^ But it must always be remembered that it is a 
cosmic idea which niay, in fact, be localised everywhere. 

We spoke at pp. 210 f of the '' garden of God " of Ezekiel, 
where a wonderful cedar is the chief ornanient. 

3. The garden in the sea with niiraculous trees on tablet 
ix. of the epic of Gilganiesh. 

Gilganiesh comes to where the maiden Siduri Sabitu dwells 
lipon the " throne of the sea," -^ where grow *■' trees of the gods." 
Of it is said : 

Samtu-stones it bears as fruit^ 

the branches are hung therewith^ lovely to behold, 

Lapis lazuh is the crown (?). 

It bears fruit precious to the sight.-' 

As the cedar in the sanctuary of the Irnini is suggestive of 
the cedar in the "garden of God," Ezek. xxxi. 3 ff., so this park 
of "^^ trees of the gods" is suggestive of Ezek. xxviii. 13 (address 
to the king of Tyre) : 

Thou wast in Eden * the garden of God ; every precious stone 

' See Jensen, A'.ß., vi 437, 441 f. 

" Jensen, K.B.. vii. 469, recalls the Queen of Sheba, rieh in diamonds, but al 
PP- 575 ff- abandons the comparison. For the sense in which Siduri may be 
taken as Sabsean, see Winckler, Kritische Schrißen, ii. iio. 

■^ See Izdtibar-Niiiirod, p. 30; at variance with Jensen, K.B., vii. 208 f. In 
the Story of Abu Muhammed {lliotisand and One Nights) the hero has little trees 
with emerald leaves and pearl fruit ; they come from the copper city, where a 
maiden sits upon a golden chair, in the midst of a garden of golden trees, bearing 
fruit of costly precious stones, pearls and corals, One sees how the material of 
the fables spreads and becomes disjointed, without being able to speak more 
definitely of borrowed literature. 

■* We may almost take it that it should be read as in Gen. ii. 10 (p. 217) Eridu. 








214 PARADISE 

was thy covering, the cornelian, topaz, Jasper; chrysolite, shoham, 
onyx, sapphire, niby,i "and of gold " was the workmanship of thy 
. , . . ; in the day that thou wast created they were prepared. I 

set thee as the . . . . ; 
thou wast lipon the holy 
mountain of God, thou 
hast walked up and down 
in the midst of the stones 
of fire. 

4. At Eridu, the sanc- 
tuary of Ea, tberefore at 



.o ^ r,r -.u •• ^ ^ the place where Adapa 
1-10.68. — Tree of Iife, with genn. Phoenician i ^ 

(?), cerlainly not a Babylonian cylinder. was made (see p. 183), 

After a wax Impression in the author's ^^^^,^ j^ ^ paradisaical 

possession. r^ 

sacred grove. 

At the conclusion of one of the Incantations of Eridu (IV. R. 

15 = Cwi. Te.vts, xvi. 42 ff.), in which the Fire-god prays to 

Ea for mediation, through Marduk, the son of Eridu, it is said : 

In Eridu there grows a dusky pahii (?), it Springs in a clear place ; 

it sparkies like the uknu stone^ it overshadows the ocean ; 

the path of Ea is in Eridu^ füll to overflowingj 

his dwelling is in the place of the Underworld ; 

his habitation is the resting-place of Gur (Bau ?) ; 

Into the glittering house, which is shady as the wood, dare no 

man enter ; 
there (dwell) Shamash (and) Tammuz 
between the mouths of the two streams, 
the gods have .... the cherubim (ilu gud-dub) of Eridu, 

planted this kishkanu-tree and laid upon sick men the 

exorcism of apsü, 
and brought it upon the head of erring men.^ 

The often-mentioned cult of water at Eridu is a proof in itself 

that the Wafer of Life was in this Paradise of Eridu. The 

Assyrian exorcisms of the Maqlu series (vii. 115 f.) explicitly 

declare this : 

I have washed my hands, cleansed my body in the water of the 
pure spring which is niade in Eridu. 

1 According to the Septuagint exactly twelve precious stones ; comp. Zimmern, 
K.A.T., 3rd ed., 629. The crown of Apollo occasionally has twelve gems. 
Upon the twelve precious stones of the high priest, see p. 138, ii. 

" Hommel, G.G.G., 276. " The guardians of Paradise plucked a branch from 
the tree at Eridu and healed sick men" ; see Thompson, The Dcvils and Evtl 
Spirits qf Babylonia, i. p. liii. ff. (the Garden of Eden). 



THE TREES OF PARADISE 215 

5. llie magic plant shibu itstsahh- avielu, " though old, the man 
shall become young," of the place where the Babylonian Noah 
resides (see p. 205, n. 1 ). Gilganiesh desires to bring it to Erech, 
to eat thereof and to renew his youth, but on the journey 
homewards a ncslm-sha qaqqar'i (serpent Y) at a fountain takes 
the plant from him. 

6. Nearly related to this "magic plant" of the holy island 
is the " plant of life," which is the gift of the gods. In one 
hymn to Marduk (Craig, Rel. Teocts, i. 59) he is regarded as 
the possessor of the " plant of life." In another hymn ^ he is 
himself called shamum haldti, " plant of life." 

Assyr.an kings were fond of comparing their rule with the 
health-bringing cjualities of this plant. Thus Adad-nirari says 
that God has made his " shepherd rule "" beneficent to the 
Assyrians as " the plant of life." And Esarhaddon wishes that 
his rule may be as tolerant as " the plant of life " to mankind. 
In one of the Assyrian letters - it is shown besides that not only 
the eating, but also the smell of the plant is of account : " We 
were as dead dogs, then the king made us again alive (i.e. 
pardoned), in that he laid the plant of life to our noses-^^ 

7. Finally, we may mention the Babylonian ambrosia of the 
gods. There is an ancient Babylonian name IjUgal-kurum-zigum, 
" the king is heavenly food." In the Adapa myth " bread " and 
" water of life " are given in the heaven of Anu * (in the earthly 
sanctuavy of Eridu Adapa bakes the bread and prepares the 
water of Eridu). At the banepiet of the gods in the epic Enuma 
elish •'' the gods eat bread {ashnan) and drink wine. Also the 
" water ■"' which Adapa " prepares," and the water of life which 

1 K 8961, Z 5, Hehn {B.A. F., 360 f.). 

^ Harper Assyrian Letters, 771- 

■^ In Yoma 72'' the Thora is a □"n DD (Assyrian satmnnt, " pleasant scent"), 
' ' plant of life " for the good, a nn'.'D DD, " plant of death " for the evil. Here also 
it may refer to smelling. Comp. 2 Cor. ii. 16 : a savour of death, a savour of life. 
In the Targum in Cant. vii. 8 the prayer of Daniel and his friends smells pleasant 
as fruit of Paradise. Further, in Gen. viii. 21 (" God smelled the sweet savour"), 
p. 267, and B.N. T., p. 73. 

* Further heavenly gifts, see water of life (wine?), garment, and oil ; comp. 
Ps. xxiii. ("thou anointest my head with oil") and the parable of the "wedding 
garment," Matt. xxii. 11 f. 

■' A". 7;, 115. 



216 PARADISE 

is set before him in heaven, may be taken as a special drink of 
the gods. Wille, which in the Old Testament is a gift of God 
to " make glad the heart of man," is, in Babylon, denoted ideo- 
graphically as " drink of life " or " wood of life." 

Water of Life and the Rivers of Paradise 

In the Biblical description of Paradise nothing is apparently 
Said about the " water of life." But the conception is latent : 

1. In the "• mist"^ (Gen. ii. 6), so far as it originally belongs 
to the description of the garden. 

2. In the river of Paradise ; Gen. ii. 10. 

Ezek. xlvii. ff. shows that the Israelites knew of a paradise 

with a Tree of Life and Water of Life. There it speaks of 

the waters which flow out from the Temple, the representation 

of the throne of God (pp. 57 f.), by whose streams the Dead 

Sea was healed : 

Upon the bank shall grow every ti-ee with heahng fruit ; -' the 
leaf shall not wither, neither shall the fruit thereof fail ; it shall 
bring forth new fruit every month^ because the M^aters thereof 
issue out of the sanctuary : and the fruit thereof shall l^e for meat 
and the leaf thereof for healing. 

Also Zach. xiv. 8 is to be noted, where in the age of Paradise 
" livins waters " are to flow out from Jerusalem. 
Compare further Rev. xxii. 1 : 

He showed me a river of water of life^, proceeding out of the 
throne of God . . . . on this side of the river^ and on that was 
the tree of life. 

Without being directly connected with the throne of God, 
water of life is offen spoken of In the Babylonian texts it 
appears especially in the cult of Ea. Eridu, the place of 
worship of Ea, at the mouth of the rivers, corresponds to the 
cosmic Paradise in the ocean;^ comp. Maqlu, vii. 11.5 f., and 
p. 214, above ; further, IV. R. 25, col. iv. : ^ 

^ P. 187, "river" ; better, according to Holzinger, Genesis, p. 24, to translate 
IX as in the Septuagint, etc., as " fountain." 

- R.V. " every tree for meat." 

" P. 214. 

■• According to Zimmern, Beiträge, 139, the text refers to cercmonies (opening of 
the mouth, and washing the mouth) at the dedication of a statue of a god ; see 
also Zimmern's Orient. Studien, p. 962. 



WATER Or LIFE AND RIVERS OF PARADISE 217 

He brought in clear water ; 

Ninzadinij Anu's jeweller^ has made thee ready with his clean 

hands ; 
Ea took thee at the place of cleansing,, 
at the place of cleansing he took thee^ 
with his clean hands he took thee, 
in (?) milk and honey he took thee, 
with water of exorcisni he sprinkled thy niouth, 
he opened thy mouth by enchantment : 
" Be clean as heaven, be clean as earth, shine like the inner- 

most heaven." 

In the "■ descent of Ishtar to Hades " we find a spring of 
water of life in the Underworld, and in the epic of Gilgamesh 
there is a washing-place, which cleanses froni leprosy, upon tlie 
Holy Island beyond the River of Death.^ 

Jewish theology and New Testament phraseologv both make 
use of the " water of life." In a fragment of an apocryphal 
gospel ■' Jesus says, He and His disciples are cleansed by " water 
of life " ; and also there is niention niade of a hagmeuterion 
(cleansing-place) as part of the Temple. The Rabbis speak of 
" water of life" and " spring of health " (o^'^n ■'C, niJl2?-^rr ^T^üi). 
The drawing of water froni the Pool of Siloam (Tractat Succa, 
iv. 7, with reference to Isa. xii. 3 in the Babylonian Gemara 
Succa, 486) ascribes magical power to the water.^ John iv. 
10 flF., vii. 37 f., is connected with the conception of water of 
life; and in Rev. vii. 17, xxi. 6, xxii. 17, the risen Christ 
leads them that overcome to the water of life.^ 

The Rivers- of Paradise 

Gen. ii. 10: "And a river went out of Eden ^ to water the 
garden, from thence it parted into four river courses " (properly 

^ See " Hölle und Paradies," J.O., i. 3, 2nd ed. 

- Discovered by Grenfell and Hunt at Oxyrhynchus in South Egypt ; not yet 
published. 

"' Also Jordan had healing power. 2 Kings v., Naaman was healed of his leprosy 
by dipping seven times in Jordan, and he marvels that Jordan should be better 
than the rivers of Damascus, Abana and Pharpar, which were equally held to be 
rivers of Paradise. Comp. Boissier, Docn7nenis, 33, where, as eure for the sting or 
scorpions, "he shall go down to the river (Euphrates?) and dip himself seven 
times." 

^ Comp. B.N.T., 73 ff. 

^ Eridu? See p. 213, n. 4. 



218 PARADISE 

speaking, fountains).^ The cosmic Paradise is surronnded by 
ocean. The river is the celestial water realni. Froni the 
cosmic Paradise spring four fountains, which upon entering 
the terrestrial world appear as rivers. The earthly Paradise 
of the pre-Israelite era (for the chronicles of the primeval 
stories refer to eras before the Israelite age ; it was later that 
Canaan came into prominence as a microcosmos of the celestial 
world) is designated as four countries, surrounded by four 
rivers : 

1. Pishon, -ichich compasseth the ichole land of Havilah, rcherc 
there is gold .... and bdellium {rubher) and shoham stones. 

By this, Arabia, that is to say a part of it, is certainly 
meant.- 

2. Gihon, that compasseth the whole land of Cush. 

That is, the valley of the Nile, Upper Egypt. Gihon is the 
Upper part of the Nile. Egypt is included in it, perhaps 
purposely suppressed.^ 

3. Hiddekel,^ tchich floxcs south ^ from Asshur. 

4. Perat, without comment, that is, Euphrates,^ the river 
of Babylon. 

The two first-nanied countries with their rivers correspond 
to the Underworld, the two last to the Upperworld. 

1 Rosh cannot be called " arm of a river," it is much more river head, fountain ; 
Greek, K-tya\i] tov TroTafiov ; Latin, capiit aqticg ; Old German, Brunnenhaupt, 
everywhere the ceremonious expression for the fabulous source of the waters that 
spring from the depths of the earth ; see for this and the following, Winckler, F. , 
iii. 313. 

- See Siegfried in Guthe, Bibelzvörfcrbtuh, under Havila. 

^ When the chronicle was written were the Cushites perhaps rulers in Egypt ? 
Esarhaddon, conqueror of Arabia and Egypt, calls himself King of the Kings of 
Muser and Cush. In this designation Egypt and Ethiopia must equally have been 
included in Cush. 

■* Only in Dan, x. 4 again. That the Israelites meant the Tigris is shown by 
Ecclesiasticus xxiv. 25-26 (Tigris named together with Pishon and Euphrates 
in this passage). Assyrian, Idiqlat, II. R. 50, 7 ; according to the Behistun 
inscription the river of Assyria was called Diqlat (comp. Targum-Talmud Diglat). 
Our Word Tigris reproduces the Persian pronunciation. 

■'' ^' Qidmat ashur, that is to say, before = southward from Assur, not ' east- 
ward,' for the Tigris never fiowed eastward of Assyria, it forms the southern 
boundary of the country " ; Winckler, F., iii. 314. Comp, above, p. 205. 

^ Babylonian puraf/ii, Ancient Persian tiß-atns, Arabic fiirät. Isa. viii. 7 ; 
Gen. XV. 18, "the river," as the Babylonians themselves ideographically desig- 
nated it, "the water." 



THE RIVERS OF PARADISE 219 

Many efforts have been made to localise the Biblical 
Paradise according to the ancient maps.^ 

Various solution.s may be suggested, each one of them 
relatively correct, for in every country the cosmic Paradise was 
locahsed. The BibHcal chronicler is thinking of the neigh- 
bourhood of the Euphrates and the Tigris, and the cosmic 
qedem (south, celestial water region) ^ presents itself to him in 
the "eastwai'd"' sitiiated Babylonia. In this there is streng 
evidence, in my opinion, that Israel was fully awa.re of the 
original Babylonian homeland. According to Ecclesiasticus 
xxiv. 25, Pishon was considered in later ages as a principal river, 
together with Enphrates and Tigris.^ 

^ Comp, chiefly Delitzsch, IVo lag das Paradies '.' 

- Pp. 204 f. 

^ To my mind there is no Solution of the question " where was Paradise situ- 
aled?" in the identification of the four rivers of Paradise with the four rivers which 
in primeval ages flowed apart into the Persian Gulf (Jensen, A'os/iiol., 507 fif.), 
making the Ulai (now Karun) = Pishon, and the Uknu (now Kercha) = Gihon, 
According to Hommel, Aicfs. und Abk., 326 ff., and G.G.G., 272, 289 f., it is 
shown that the Babylonians localised terrestrially the four sacred rivers by the 
naming four divine rivers : II. R. 56, 26-29, comp. V. R. 22, 27 ff. According to 
Jensen, as the " wife " and " son " of the River-god follows, it is not here a case of 
four names of the ''" Naru, the River-god. Hommel has drawn attention to, and 
believes it can be proved, that in the South Arabian inscriptions the same present- 
ment of four rivers is met with; see Aufs. ti. Abk., 273 ff., and G.G.G,, 145 and 
298, n. I. If this is correct, it is a proof of a Paradise localised in the Arabian 
country in question ; Hommel finds this significant in regard to the Biblical 
Paradise, as he takes it that the Babylonian and Arabian lists, as also Gen. ii., are 
dealing with the same territory, south-west of Eridu. 



CHAPTER VI 



THE FALL 




(Gen. iii.) 

No Babylonian text corresponding to the story of the Fall 
has yet been found. The notable seal cylinder, fig. 69,^ is 

not explicable with any 
certainty. The tree with 
its two fruits is certainly 
the tree of life, but the 
two seated and clothed (I) 
figures are not reaching to 
take the fruit. One of 
them wears the horned 
head-dress exclusively used 
for the gods. The line 
behind the figure sitting on the left is obviously a serpent,^ 
but its Position does not correspond with the place it would 
hold in a drawing of the Fall. On the other band, the 
picture is reminiscent of the scene at the end of fablet ii. 
of the epic of Gilgamesh. The Babylonian Noah and his wife 
(deified figures) have the disposal of the plant of life. 
Gilgamesh takes away with hini a bushel of it, but a serpent 
at the fountain (Underworld !) robs him of the precious 
possession. One picture represents the tree of life and the 
serpent in the background as its guardian. A relationship 



Fig. 69. — Tree of life, with divine beings 
and serpent. Babylonian seal cylinder, 
Brit. jNluseuni. 



^ British Museum, No. 89, 326. 

'■^ The view put forward by Oppert, Halevy, and others, that it is only an 
ornamentation, is not tenable. Our reproduction of the picture leaves no doubt 
that it is a serpent. 

220 



THE FALL 



221 



between the fable and the Biblical tale is, broadly speaking, 
very possible.^ 

Traces of acquaintance with the story of the Fall can be 
identified in individual points. The nanie of the river An-mush- 
tin-tir-diib, II. R. 51, 44r/, niay be translated " River of the 
serpent-god, who destroys the dwelling of life,"'' but the name 
is found in an enunieration where the connection teils nothing. 
That fi'oni the beginning the woman is the tempter seenis to 
be presupposed in text D.T., 67,- which speaks of a maiden, 
" the mother of sins,'' who breaks forth in tears and who later, 
according to the yet fragmentary and difficult texts, lies in 
the dust, stricken by the deadly glance of the deit\-. 









ydti': 



ly.äM 



■Mi- 



Fig. 70. —Seal cy linder. Original in author's possession. 



The supposition of a Fall is a definite divine revelation to 
mankind. There is no Babylonian parallel to it. Certainly 
the Babylonian ideal world corresponds to the derivation of 
all laws from the divinity. Hammurabi places his laws in 
connection with the Sun-god, he even takes upon himself the 
character of law-giving Sun-god. The stone of the law found 
in Susa^ declares how Hammurabi received the divine Inspira- 
tion. But upon the concluding tablet of the epic Enuma 



^ Fig. 70 shows a Babylonian seal cylinder in the author's possession upon 
which between the seated divinity and the figure approaching in prayer there 
appears to be an upright serpent ; compare with this the serpent in fig. 27. The 
genuineness of the seal cylinder is doubtful. Notwithstanding this, we give a 
reproduction because it may be an Imitation of an antique. 

' See Delitzsch, B.B., i., 4th ed., 70. 

" See Exod. xx. 



THE FALL 

elish it is explicitly said that Marduk shall bring the commands 
of Ea ^ to mankind : 

They shall be held fast and the " First" shall teach them/- 

the wise and the learned shall ponder them together I 

The father shall transmit them, he shall teach them to the son 

The ear of the shephei'd and of the guardian (?) shall he open, 

that he may rejoice over the Lord of the gods, Marduk, 

that his land may prosper, that it ma^' go well with himself ' 

His Word Stands fast, his command shall not be clianged ; 

the word of his moiith no other god changes. 

If he lock angry, if he tui-n not his neck (in mercy), 

If he reprove, if he be wrathful, no god opposes liim. 

The high-hearted, broad-minded. 

Before sacrilege and sin. 

\Five furtlier lines are m}itUatecL'\ 

Upon a fragment K 3364 + 7897 { = C.T., xiii. 29 f.) there 
are some nioral exhortations, of which it is explicitlv said that 
they are written upon a table : •'• 

To thy God thoii shalt have a heart of tlie .... 

this it is, that is due to the deity. 

Prayer, beseeching, and casting down of the countenance 

shalt thou ....■* bring to him there, 

and running over shalt thou .... make it. 

In learning (?) it, /ook upon the fablet ; 

the fear of God brings mercy, 

sacrifice increases life 

and prayer .... the sins.^ 

To him, who fears the gods, wliose foundation is not . . . ., 

whoso feareth the Anunnaki, prolongs [his life], 

Against friend and companion speak not [evil]. 

' Comp. pp. 50 f. above, speaking of books and tablets by means of which divine 
wisdom and laws were conveyed to mankind. 

'^ That is, Marduk, and then, in wider sense, primeval man, or the first of the 
sages of the heroic age. 

'■■ Delitzsch, Welt schöpf ungsepos, pp. 19, 54 f., 11 1 f., includes this in the epic 
Enuma elish with very questionable correctness, and speaks of "admonitions of 
the Creator god to the first of mankind.'' Delitzsch's translation is very free and 
not without arbitrary corrections. In discussions upon the passages it is curious 
that the important mention of the table from which one is to learn has been over- 
looked up to the present time. 

■• Ud-da-at. Delitzsch, early in the morning. 

'•' The second Jewish New Year's precept says that repentance, prayer, and 
almsgiving avert evil circumstances. 



THE FALL 223 

Meanness speak not, friendliness (?).... 
When thou dost promise, then give ....(?) 
when thou encouragest(?) . . . . ! 

Lamentations for sins and prayers for deliverance from " sin " 
and " punishment for sin " are to be largely found in Babylonian 
religious literature. " From the great sins which I have 
committed from my youth up, deliver me, destroy them seven 
times ; may thy heart, like unto the heart of a father and of 
the mother who bore me, return to his place, I will be thine 
obedient servant, O Marduk," is said in a litany. "• May the 
sins of my father and grandfather, of my mother and grand- 
mother, of my family, of my kindred, and of my relations come 
near to me no more."^ We add some passages from the 
Babylonian penitential psalms (x\-shi-sha-ka-ga = " Lamenta- 
tion for the quieting of the heart ") : - 

I\'. R. 10: But may the stomi in the heart of my God attain to 

quiet .... 
Such, that to niy God would be an abomination, liave 

I unwittingly et-ten, 
upon such, that is to my goddess a horror. have I 

unwittingly trodden, 

Lord, my sins are many, great are my offences. 
God, whom I know, do not know, my sins are many, 

great are my offences. 
Goddess, Avhom I know, do not know, my sins are many, 

gi'eat are my offences. 
The sins which I committed, I know not, 

The offence, that I have done, I know not. 

The abomination which I have eaten, I know not ; 
The horror, upon whicli I have trodden, I know not. 
Tlie Lord in the anger of his heart looked evil at me. 

1 sought for help, but no one took me by tlie band ; 
I wept, but no one came to my side. 

I ci'ied aloud, but no one heard me ; 
I am füll of pain, overwhelmed, cannot look up. 
I turn me to my merciful god, I pray loudly ; 

I kiss the feet of my goddess, touch them. 

^ King, Babylonian Magic, No. ii (Hehn, A. B., v. 365 f.). 

- Comp. H. Zimmern, Babylonische Bnsspsahneti, 1885, and A.O., vü. 3 
(" Babyl. Hymnen und Gebete"), and the work of the Assyriologist and theologian 
Hehn, Sünde und Erlösung nach biblischer und babylonischer Anschauung, 1903. 



224 THE FALL 

To the God, whom I know, do not know^ 1 pray aloud. 

To the goddesSj whom I know^ do not know^ I pray aloud. 

Men are hardenedj they know nothing. 

Men, so far as they exist, what do they know ? 

Whether they do ill, whethev they do good^ they know 

nothing. 
O Lordj thy servant, cast hini not down ; 
thrown into the watev of the slime, take him by the 

hand ! 
The sins that I have eommitted, turn into good ; 
the ofFence that I have done^ may the wind carry 

hence ! 
My many misdeeds take from oiT me like a garment ! 
My God, though my sins be seven times seven, deliver 

me from my sins ! 
God, whom I know, do not know, though my sins be 

seven times seven, deliver me from my sins ; 
Goddess, whom I know, do not know, though my sins 

be seven times seven, deliver me from my sins. 

IV. R. 54: May his fervent supplication incline Thee above to 



mei'cy 



Sigh or pity — how long ? i may they speak to thee. 

Look upon his miserable lot, 

it may ease thy heart, grant him mercy I 

Grasp his hand, forgive his sins ! 

Drive away illness and misery from him. 

IV. R. 29 : I thy servant, sighing call I upon thee, 

whoso has sinned, thou acceptest his fervent supplication, 

when thou lookest upon a man, the man liveth, 

Almighty mistress of mankind, 

Merciful, whose favour is good, who receives prayer ! 

His god and his goddess being angry, he calls upon thee. 

Turn thy neck towards him, grasp his hand ! 

Beside thee there is no guiding deity I 

K. 3459 :- 

Marduk gives relief [••••] 

he receives the prayers [..-.] 

after that in the anger of his heai-t [. . . .], 

Marduk, to thy servant, Adapu,^ who [....] 

take away his sins, O Bei [. . . .] 

his mouth sinned [. . . .], 

raise him up out of the great flood [....] 

^ Ahulap, otherwise also adi matt, termiiitis technicus as in the Old Testament 
Psalms. 

- Hehn, B.A., v. 322 f., col. 2, Z 9-15. ^ Epithet = Aclapa? 



BABYLONIAN CONSCIOUSNESS OF SIN 2)25 

We inust inquire, in the first place, what is understood in 
these prayers by sin P To the primitive heathen conscience 
sin is often only a matter of ceremonial commission or Omission. 
The wretched victim has unconsciously omitted something in 
the religious ceremonies, he has touched a tabu of the god, 
or has not rightly off'ered a sacrifice, and he is promptly con- 
victed of a crime.^ Also the idea of arnu, that is, correctly, 
" rebellion," hhitu (Hebrew, Mief), which is often used of 
political crime,- often enough means " ceremonial Omission " , 
egu seems to mean " neglect," correctly, " light act " ; the 
concluding lines of the epic Enuma elish speak of annu and 
qUlatu against God. It is also to be specially noted that in 
the law.s of Hammurabi arnu denotes the injury connected with 
the deviation from justice (that always meaning violation of 
propertv), bat lihit/Ui means the objective injurv. 

Yet it would be a great error to imagine that the Babylonians 
did not include moral faults and failings in their idea of sin. 
The tables of exorcisms of the Shurpu series ^ show this : 

Has he caused division between father and son, 

has he caused division between mother and daughter, 

has he caused division between stepmother and stepdaughter,, 

has he caused division between brother and brother^ 

has he caused division between friend and friend^ 

has he not let a captive go free^ 

not loosed the bond ? 

If it is violence against the chief (?)^ hate against the elder 

brother^ 
if he has despised father and mother, injured the eldev sister^ 
given the younger (sister), denied the elder^ 
for nay said yea, 
for yea said nay, 
spoken impurity^ 
spoken sacrilege, 
used false weights, 

^ Therefore ihe priests were most necessary in heathen cults : knowing the 
secret detail, they could warn against "sins." 

- Root meaning : to miss (the goal). 

^ PubUshed and interpreted by Zimmern, Beiträge ; according to the criticism in 
question, the texts appear to have their source in the enumeration of the gods in 
the Babylonian (Marduk) epochs, bat they are of much more ancient origin. All 
gods, those also of foreign lands like the Cassite and those of Elam, which for a 
time belonged to Babylon, but chiefly Shamash and Marduk, are calied upon. 
VOL. I. 15 



226 THE FALL 

passed false money, 

disinherited a legitimate son^ installed an illegitimate^ 

drawn a false boundary, 

boundai-y, border, and district displaced ? 

Has he trespassed in his neighbour's housCj 

approached his neighbour's wife, 

shed his neighbour's blood, 

Stolen his neighbour's gai-ment ? 

Has he not let a man go out of his power (?) 

driven a brave man out of the family, 

caused dissension in a united kindred, 

raised himself up against a superior ? 

Has he been upright in speech, false in heart ? 

With his mouth füll of yea, his heart füll of nay ? 

Is it upon injustice that he has thought, 

to drive away the righteous, to destroy, 

to sin, to rob, to allow robbery, 

to oceupy himself with evil ? 

Is his naouth filthy, 

his lips unruly ? 

Has he taught impurity, shown unseemliness ? 

Has he occupied himself with sorcery and witchci'aft ? 

Has he promised with heart and mouth, but not kept it, 
by a (retained) gift despised the name of his God, 
consecrated something, but held it back, 
presented something (the sacrifice) .... but eaten it ? 
That through which he is always banned, shall be redeemed. 

Has he eaten that which for his city would be an abomination, 
caused a rumour to spread about his city, 
made the fame of his city evil, 
has he gone towards an outlaw, 

has he had fellowship with an outlaw (slept in his bed, sat 
upon his stool, drunk from his cup) ? 

On the third Shurpu table it is assumed that the bau may 
rest upon one 

because he has helped someone to a verdict by bribery, 
torn up plants from the field, 
cut reed in the thicket, 

has been asked for a trough for one day and has refused it, 

has been asked for a water vessel for one day and has 

refused it, 
stopped his neighbour's canal, 
instead of coraplying with his Opponent, has remained hostile 

to him, 
fouled a river, or spit in a river. 



BABYLONIAN CONSCIOUSNESS OF SIN 227 

All the faults violating the second, third, and tenth conimand- 
ments are named in this text, some even in the order of 
the Decalogue (see Exod. xx).^ To these are added social 
crinies which give a most interesting insight into the life of a 
Babylonian citizen. But the plainer the relationship between 
Babylonian and Biblical thought, so much the clearer becomes 
the far-reaching difference. 

The Biblical penitential psalms, for instance, are founded 
upon a clear understanding of the relationship of man towards 
God, and are aware of the moral responsibility. It has been 
rightly observed that the Hturgical formula " unknown god," 
" unknov/n goddess " sounds like a parody upon words like 
Ps. li. 6 : " against thee only have I sinned and done this 
evil in thy sight." Where in the Babylonian psalms are 
thoughts to be found like Ps. xxxii. 5 : "I said, I will 
confess my transgressions unto the Lord ; and thou forgavest 
the iniquity of my sin " ; or Ps. li. 10 : " Create in me a 
clean heart', O God".?- 

It is to be expected that tho idea of a " fall " would not be 
far from the mind of the Babylonians when they emphasised 
sin in this way. In fact, the notion of the Deluge as a 
punishment falling upon the sins of mankind and the myths 
of punitive visitations before the Flood, the culminating point 
being the corruption of the river, show they were speaking of 
primeval sin. 

Finally, we may add one niore text ^ which has become widely 
known through the fine interpretation of H. Zimmern and has 
awakened mach interest because it gives us better than any 
other a deep insight into the psychology of a Babylonian 
penitent and the conception of the universe as it was in the 
non-Biblical Nearer East : 

^ Compare with the second and third commandments, naturally vmtatis 
nmtandis, the passages IV. R. 6o"' (p. 228), which treat of the frivolous and the 
reverential mention of the name of God, and of the festival, with prayer and 
singing, of the day dedicated to the honour of God. 

^ Comp. F. Jeremias in Chanlepie de la Saussaye Religionsgesch., 3rd ed., 322 f. ; 
and Seilin, Ertrag der Ausgrabungen, p. 17. 

^ Zimmern, latest^.Ö., vii. 3, pp. 28 ff. Text, IV. R. 60*. There exists a 
philological commentary on this ancient text in the cuneiform V. R. 47 ; comp, 
also Delitzsch, B.B., iii. 54. 



228 THE FALL 

" Shouting for joy to heaveri;, sorrowful unto death " 

I attained to (long) life, it reached out beyond the goal (of life). 

Wheresoevev I tum, there it goes not well, yea, not well ; 

my distress gets the upper band, my well being see I not. 

If I call to my god, he turns not his face to nie, 

if I pvay to my goddess, she lifteth not hei- liead. 5 

The soothsayer told not by soothsaying the future, 

by a libation the seer established not my right. 
If I went to the exorcist of the dead, he let nie know nothing, 

the sorcerer redeemed not my bau by magic charm. 
What perverse things in the world ! 10 

Looked I behind me, misery oppressed me. 

As though no libation had I brought to my god, 

or at nieal time my goddess had not been called upon, 

my face not downcast, my footfall had not become visible ; 

(like oiie) in whose nioutli stayed prayer and supplication, ^^ 

(witli whom) the day of god ceased, the festival feil out ; 

who was careless, wlio attended not to (the god's) decrees (?), 

fear and reverence (for God) taught not his people ; 
who called not upon his god, ate of his food, 
forsook his goddess, a writing (?) brought her not ; o^ 

he then, who was honoured, his lord forgot, 
the nanie of his mighty god pronounced disparagingly — 

tlius did I appear. 

I myself, however, thought only of prayer and supplication, 

prayer was my rule, sacrifice my habit. 
The day of the gods' worship was the joy of my heart, 05 

the day of the following of the goddess was to me profit and 

riches. 
To do homage to the king, that was my joy, 

also to play to him, that Avas pleasant unto me. 
I taught my land to respect the name of God, 

to honour the name of the goddess, I instructed my people. jq 

The adoration of the king I made like unto giants Q), 

also in reverence for the palace I instructed the people. 

If I but knew, that before God such is well-pleasing ! 
But what seeiiis good to oneself, that is bad with God ; 

what is despicable to anyone's mind that is good to his god. 35 
Who has understood the counsel of the gods in heaven, 

the plan of a god, füll of darkness {?), who has fathomed it I 
How could be understood the way of a god by dim-sighted 

men ! 

He who still lived in the evening^ in the morning was dead, 
suddenly he becaiiie troubled, quickly he was slain ; ^q 

in the moment he still sings and plays, 
in the niffht he wails like a mourner. 



BABYLONIAN CONSCIOUSNESS OF SIN 229 

Day and night their ^ mind changes. 

If they hunger, they appear like a corpse, 

if they be füll, then woiild they be equal with theii- god. ^^ 
If things go well with them^ then they talk of climbing up to 

the heaven, 
if they be füll of pain, then they talk of going down to hell. 

[He7'e a l arger passet ge is missing.'^'\ 

A prison to nie is the house become. 
In the fetters of my flesh my arms are laid^ 
in my own bands are my feet thrown. 

\_A line missing.'l 

With a scourge has he slain me, füll of . . . . ^ 

with bis staff hatli he pierced me through^ the blow was 

heavy. ^^ 

The whole day the oppressor oppressed me, 

in the middle of the night he let me not breathe for a minute. 

By rending asunder (?) are my joints broken^ 

my members are loosened, are 

In my filth I wallowed (?) like an ox^ 

was watered like a sheep with my dirt. ^^ 

My fever Symptoms remained obscm-e to the sorcerer (?) 
My omen also left the soothsayer dai-k 

the exorciser has not treated my sickness well ; 

an end also to my prolonged sickness the soothsayer did not 

My god gave me no help, took me not by the band, 

my goddess took no pity on me, went not by my side. 

Opened (already) was the coffin, they busied themselves with 

my biuying (?) 
Without being already dead^ the lamentation over me was 

conducted ; 
my whole land called : " How evilly is he executed ! " ;; 

When my foe heard such^ his countenance brightened ; 

they informed my foe (feminine) of it, her (?) mind was joyful. 

I know (however) a time for my whole family, 

where in the midst of the Manes their divinity shall be 

honoured. ^ 

In several respects the Avestic religion ofFers still more 
valuable material about sin and the Fall. We have noted 

^ That is to say, of men. 

- Some few lines of the gaps may be supplied from ihe commentary on this 
text, as also from a duplicate in Constantinople. These contain a description of 
the woeful State of the Speaker, introduced by the words : " An evil spirit of the 
dead has come forth from his dungeon " (Zimmern). 

■' The translation of the two last lines is very uncertain. 



230 



THE FALL 



(pp. 162 fF.) the Avestic teaching according to which the two 
worlds, of Ahriman and of Ahuramazda, are at strife. The 
theology of Zarathustra makes the soul of man the battle- 
ground. Ahriman is the cause of sin. Yima, representative of 
the Golden Age (p. 163), "the good shepherd, who rules over 
the seven points of direction," took pleasure in falsehood and 
untrue words, and his splendour departed from him in the form 
of a bird.^ The consummation of dehverance in the renewal of 




Fig. 71. — Mexican pictograph ; the first 
woman (Cihuacohuate) with serpent 
and twin sons. 



Fig. 72. — The Mexican first 
human pair. Cod. Vatic. 
A (No. 373S), fol. 12 



the World is to be the destruction of .sin, together with Ahriman. 
The binding of the dark monsters of chaos, which appear as 
dragon or snake, and of the deceiver, is clearly indicated in the 
religion of Zarathustra. It also lies at the root of the Biblical 
conception, though it may not be plainly brought forward in 
our texts. The serpent in Paradise, whose destruction is fore- 
told in Gen. iii. 15, is, in point of fact, identical with the 
monsters of chaos, Leviathan and Rahab, conquered by Yahveh, 
In the Book of Revelation the end of time is described, corre- 
sponding to the primeval age. There the binding is clearly 

^ Yast, xix. 31 ff. Orelli, Religionsgcsch., 549. 
2 Seier, Cod. Vat. No. 3773, i. p. 133. 



THE HAPPY STATE OF PRIMITIVE MAN 231 

stated of the " dragon," " the old serpent, the deceiver of the 
whole World,"" Rev. xii. 9, xx. 8. It can scarcely be doubted 
that the Babjlonian teaching also held the monsters of chaos 
to be the causes of destruction, though there may be no direct 
proof of it. In a psalm of thanksgiving, of which only some 
fragments remain,^ it is said : 

At the divine stream^ where the judgmeut of mankind takes 
place, I was washed from evil_, the chains were taken froin 
me, 

the wrath of the lion/^ who would fain have swallowed me^ was 
bridled by Marduk. 

In Mexkan mythology the first wonian is called " the woman 
with the serpent," or " the woman of cur flesh," and she has 
twin sons. Fig. 71 ^ represents her conversing with the 
serpent, whilst the twins appear at strife. She is worshipped in 
Mexico as wife of the god of the celestial Paradise. 

In the same way the Lidians have a divine first mother of 
the race of man, who dwells in Paradise (the Indian Meru). 
Also in the beginning the evil demon Mahishasura fought with 
the serpent, trod upon and cut off his head ; a victory to be 
repeated at the end of the world, when Brahma will give back 
to Indra the rulership over all.* 

The Chinese have a myth according to which Fo-hi, the first 
man, discovei-ed the wisdom of Yang and Yin, masculine and 
feminine principle (heaven and earth) ; see p. 166. A dragon 
rose from the deep and taught him.^ " The woman," it is said 
in an explanatory gloss, "is the first source and the root of 
all evil." 

The Happy State of Primitive Man 

The stör i es of the Fall presuppose a golden age, when men 
lived in peace and near to God. This thought also is universal. 

1 Zimmern, A.O., vii. 3, 30 f. ; text V. R. 48. It speaks only of bodily ills, 
but it is a penitential psalm. 

2 Does not this recall I Pet. v. 8 ? 

^ Comp. Humbold, Pittoreske Ansichten der Coi-dilleren, ii. 41 and 42, 
(table xiii.), and Lueken, loc. cit., p. 132. 
■* Lueken, loc. cit. , 90 f. 
^ Ibid , p. 9S. 



THE FALL 



It has beeil said ^ that this myth of peace breathes the longing 
of an old and war-worn people after rest and peace ; the most 
ancient Israel, tlierefore, could not have originated it. Neither 
did Israel originate the teaching of a golden age. But the 
fundamental conception (not myth) has nothing to do with 
political circuinstances. The happy prinieval condition agrees 
with the teaching of the ages of the world ; see pp. 69 ft'. The 
golden age is followed by the silver,'- then the copper, then the 
iron. The ages becoine worse. The end of tinie will bring 
back the conditions of primeval time ; conipare, for example, 
Acts xiv. IL Babylonian and Assvrian texts offen speak of 




Fig. 73. — Cylinder in the Bibliotheque Nationale. 

a blessed time in which is mirrored the thoughts of a past 
happy age.^ 

The epic of Giigamesh teils about a friend of the hero, 
reminiscent of Pan and Priapus, Eabani, whose whole body was 
covered with hair. He is the creation of Aruru when she 
" broke ofF clay" and "made an iniage of Anu."'* He is a 
being of a gigantic strength. " With the gazelies he eats 
green plants,'^ with the cattle he satisfies himself (.^) with drink, 



' Gunkel, Genesis, 109. 

- To be correct the order must have been : silver (kinar age), gold (solar 
age, that is to say, the age of Saturn, for sun = Saturn-Nergal, p. 26). The 
reversal took place under the dominion of the teaching of Marduk (solar 
phenomenon), or foUowed from Egyptian influence. 

3 K.A.T., 3rd ed., 380 f. : B.N. T., 31 f., 57. 

■* P. 185. For an interpretation of the text, ste Izdiibar-Nnnrod, 1S91, pp. 15, 
46 ; and Jensen, K.B., vi. 120 ff. 

•' The dwelling together in peace of man and beast described in Gen. i. is to 
return again in the final age ; see Isa. xi. 6-S, and comp. Ixv. 25, Job v. 23. 



RESULTS OF THE FALL 233 

with the fish (properly croicd) he is happy in the water.^ He 
spoils the hunting of the ' hunter.' Out of love to the aninials 
he destroys snares and nets (?), so that the wild beasts escape. 
Then by the craft of the hunter, who feared hini, a wonian is 
brought to him, who seduees him, and keeps him from his 
companions, the beasts, for six days and seven nights. When 
he came baci<, all beasts of the field fled from him. Then Eabani 
followed the woman, and let himself be led into the city of 
Erech. In the following passages of the epic the woman 
appears as the cause of his troubles and sorrows. A later 
passage records that Eabani cursed her. The First Man is not 
in question here, but a certain relationship of idea in this 
description to the story of the happy primeval state of Adam 
must be granted.- 

Residts of the Fall 

Gen. iii. 14 : The serpent is to craivl upon his belli/, and to eat 
dust all the days of his life. The curse presupposes that the 
serpent did not originally crawl upon the earth.^ In Ancient- 
Oriental representations we find upright standing serpent 
monsters. Compare the four-legged mushrushshu (sirushshu), 
fig. 58, and the figure with upright human body and serpent 
lower half, fig. 73 ; ^ further, the stone sphinxes with serpent 
bodies at Zenjirli. There is also, however, hidden in the 
words "eat dusf a pictorial figure of speech, meaning, in 
general, "to be put to shame," and, in particular, " to go down 

1 Vegetaiianism is the characteiistic of the Golden Age, according to Plato, 
Plutarch, Ovid, and also amongst the classical peoples ; see Dillman, Genesis, 36. 

- Jastrow, American Journal of Seniitic Languages, 1899, 193 ff. ; P, Keil, Zur 
Babel- tmd Bibelfrage, pp. 59 f. Stade, in "Der Mythus vom Paradies und die 
Zeit seiner Einwanderung in Israel," Z.A. W., 1903, 174 f., says about the naive 
account : Gen. ii. 19 ff. bears the same relationship to this story of Eabani as a 
fresh mountain stream does to a stagnant village puddle ! His vievk^, that the 
Eabani myth is perhaps a distortion by oral tradition of an original fable of 
primeval man and his condition, leads to a theory of borrowed literature such as 
we hold to be erroneous. 

^ Luther says : the serpent must have stood upright like a fowl. 

^ According to Curtiss. The authenticity of the drawing appears to be doubt- 
ful, but some variants are in existence, one in Nielsen, Mondreligion, 107. 
Erichtonius (Son of the Earth, //. , ii. 547) was man above and serpent below. 
Ovid, Met., ii. 552. 



234 THE FALL 

to hell/'' The literal eating of dust cannot be meant.^ In Tel 
Amarna L, xlii. 35, it is .said, " may our eneinies see it and 
akalu ipru'''' ; that is, "eat dust."" Clo>ely connected with this is 
" kiss the earth " or " lick the dust," which is always said of con- 
quered eneinies. But an idea lies at the root of the figure of 
Speech which agrees with the natural occurrence. The figure 
of speech says, " thou shalt be despised, shalt become a creeping 
thing." Micah vii. 17 knows the turn of phrase, also 
Isa. Ixv. 25. The commentators have put it in the sense of 
Gen. iii. when they add in Micah, "like the serpent which 
Crawls upon the ground," and in Isa. Ixv. 25, *' dust shall be the 
serpent's nieat." ^ 

Gen. iii. 15 : "/ zoill put emnity betzveen thee and the zcoman, 
and hetzveen tliy seed and her seed ; it shall bruise thy head, and 
thou shalt snap at his heel.^'' The play of words in ^1W cannot 
be proved by the lexicon.^ But, by the sense of the occurrence, 
it must be thus translated. The serpent-slayer seeks to destroy 
the serpent by treading on his head ; it wounds him by a sting 
in the heel. As result of the combat, a destruction- of the 
serpent is ccrtainly in view. 

In the original conception the serpent is, on the one hand, 
dark primeval chaos, from out of which the creator built the 
World ; on the other hand, it represents the active inimical Power, 
to be destroyed by the deliverer. We find both ideas clearly 

^ Or does the serpent eat dust? It does not live upon vegetable food. In that 
case certainly it might speak of eating dust (see articie controverting Gunkel 
in Theol. Lit. BL, 1905, Sp. 345). 

^ Winckler, Babyl. Kultur, 48; Krit. Sehr., ii. 31, iii. 3. " To eat dust" 
is again a refinement upon the expression " eat düng." " Dung is the dement of 
Hades" (compare at p. 7 the signification of ihe beeile in Egypt ; for gold as 
düng of Hades, Mamnion = ilu Manman = Nergal, comp. B.N.T., 96). H. 
Winckler suggests (comp, also F., i. 291) reading Isa. i. 20 as N'in — that is, 
as in the Arabic, "eat trash, dirt," instead of hereb, " to be devoured with the 
sword." Then the figure of speech " to eat dust" would be attested also in its 
drastic meaning in the Old Testament. 

^ Winckler, F., iii. 391, recalls the cycle resulting from the change of light and 
dark half; the two combatants are the two halves — one grasps the head of the 
other, who in turn grasps the heel of the first (symbolised simply by the serpent 
biting his own tail). An Indian presentment, showing Brahma with the toes of 
his upraised foot in his mouth, is in Niklas Müller's Glaube, Wissen und Kunst 
der Indier. It is possible that the motif of ihis picture is indicated and is explained 
by the fact that the same word •"i'^w' is used for both actions. 



RESULTS OF THE FALL 235 

defined in Babylouian presentations ; but we miss any connec- 
tion of the dragon-serpent (comp. Rev. xii. 7-9) with sin. On 
non-Biblical ground this connection is cleai' in the Avestic 
teaching ; see p. 230. The Biblical presentment knows both 
sides of the teaching, and fills it with deep rehgious significa- 
tion in answering the question : Whence comes sin ? and in the 
other question : How will the deliverance be accomplished ? 

We have the story here in a niodified form. The Church's 
interpretation (probably first by Irenaeus) placed Gen. iii. 
15 in connection with the dragon combat in Revelation, and 
called one passage the " protevangelium." ^ The victor treads 
upon the dragon. The wounded heel is original.^ It is quite 
possible that it may hide the religious mystery later expressed 
in the motif of the sufferings of the Deliverer. Like Tiamat 
and Marduk, Set and Typhon, so serpent and seed of the 
woman (comp. Adapa as " seed of mankind''; see pp. 107, 182) 
are opposed. Faradise is closed. The dragon-slayer is to 
reopen Faradise, and thereby the way to the tree of life. The 
whole picture is clearly recognisable in the figurative language 
of the Apocalypse. In the primeval stories the features are 
blurred. 

Gen. iii. 17: '"'' Cursed is the ground for tliy sähe; by thy 
lahour {to'il) sliaJt thou ■irial'e it usefid.'''' ^ Instead of ba^abureka, "for 
thy sake," quite possibly it should read ba-^abod-ka, Septuagint 
ev TOI? epyoi'i uov. " By toil," bHssabon, is possibly a comment. 
As during the Golden Age all the blessings of nature came of them- 
selves, so now^ the earth must be laboriously worked."^ Akalu, 
" to make useful,"" " to have the usufruct," as for example in 

1 The literary age of the passage is here immaterial ; the idea at the root of it 
is primeval. It almost seems as though the scribe no loiiger understood his 
ancient " copy." 

" But also here there are analogies. Hercules was bitten in the foot by a large 
crab who helped the hydra (summer solstice). Though he crushed the nine heads 
of the hydra with his club, yet he could not succeed, for as fast as he destroyed 
one head, two grew in its place ; comp. Stucken, Astralniythen, 24. 

■' R.V. "in toil shalt thou eat of it." 

"* In Gen. v. 29 the words spoken by Lamech confirm this assumption. 
Chap. viii. 21, " I will not again curse the ground any more [for man's sake] " ; 
this last is perhaps a commentary, on the ground of the reading ba'abur, 
chap. iii. 17, Upon this see Winckler, F., iii. 389 ff. 



236 THE FALL 

H.C.^ \?>a^ 1 : ad'i hcdtat ?7t«/, "during their lifetime they shall 
have the usufruct,"'' loa, 13. 57. 73. 

Gen. iii. 24 : " And he placed hefore the garden of Eden the 
Cherubim, and theßame of the sxcord zchich turned every icay to 
guard the ivay to the tree of Ife.''''^ 

We may recall the figures on the intrados of gates and on the 
terraces of palaces and teniples, and the Egyptian sphinxes 
guarding gateways. Particularly helpful are the genii with 
nien's heads and eagles' heads which we find to the right and 
left of the tree of hfe.^ Here, they stand before Paradise, the 
entrance to the heavenly world. In Ezek. i. f. the cherubim 
are the bearers of the chaiiot of the throne, and in Rev, 
iv. 6 they are the throne-bearers. 

We cannot quote the authority of any inscription for a word 
eorresponding to the Babylonian word kirubti ; compare^ however^ 
Hommel, G.G.G., p. 276, note 1^ and p. 324- (gucl-diib = karühu}). 
Lenormant thought he read the word on an aniulet in the collection 
of De Clercq (see K.A.T., 2nd ed., 39). A correspondence with 
De Clei'cq sonie years ag-o (see Röscher, Le.v., article on Nergal) 
proved that in this case the wish was father to the thought with 
the ingenious Lenormant. Nevei'theless the Babylonian kirfibu 
continues to flourish. 

'^'' The ßaviing sivord zchich turned every zcay.^'' This is the 
sword wielded later by the dragon-slayer, and which was " two- 
edged,"'' that is to say, both edges sharp, grasped with both 
hands and swung to right and left (this possibly is the mitha- 
pehet, so far as it belongs to the sword motif).'^ 

There seems to have been still another presentment, which has 
vanished out of the present text. The flaming sword here has 
no bearer ; imagination has to come to the help, which places it 
in the band of a cherub, somewhat as, in Numb. xxii. 23 fF., 
the angel with the drawn sword encountered Balaam. At the 

^ Comp. R. V. , ad loc. 

^ Comp. figs. 65-67 above. 

^ Comp. Rev. i. 16 (here it is figure of speech for tongue of the Judge of the 
earth which pronounces the dooiii of destruction) with Rev. ii. 12, where it is 
borne by the combatant against Satan (ii. 16) enthroned in Pergamos. 

* " Sword, which turns every way " ; " hew here, hew there," in the Thoitsand 
atid One Nichts ; the " hewing sword " of Siegfried, of Theseus, and so on. See 
upon this and the following (wavering flame), Winckler, F., iii. 392 f. 



RESULTS OF THE FALL rS7 

eiitrance into Pavaciise, that is to say, the celestial woiid, it is, 
however, to be expected, according to the Oriental cosmos, that 
there would be a second hindrance — fire.^ Li the Koran, Sura 
Ixxii. 8, it is said : " We reached heaven and foimd it füll of 
guards and fire." One may further recall the " flames" through 
which the rescuer Siegfried must pass. The word ^"in, which 
the traditional text renders as a sword, might in point of fact 
equally well mean scorching heat." Thus, as well as the cherubim 
" the flame of the scorching fire " bars the way to the tree of life. 

That later they understood "the flame of the gleamin^- sword" 
to mean " Hghtning " is shown by the additions to Daniel (Susanna^ 
Kautzsoh, Apokr., p. 188 f ), where the angel of the Lord " with the 
sword" is spoken of (History of Susanna, 59), and where he 
launches fire into the midst of those thrown into hell (62) for 
inniishment (by which undoubtedly lightning is meant). 

Thureau-Dangin, in the Revue d'kistuire ei de litt, rel, i. l^ö ff., 
draws attention to a passage of the inscription of Tiglathpileser L 
(col. vi. 15; see K.B., i. 37): after the destruction of the strong 
city Khanusa, Tiglathpileser erected upon the ruins a '^-'bronze 
lightning," and wrote thereupon a glorification of his victory, and 
a warning against the rebuilding of the city. " I erected a house 
of bricks upon it, and placed that copper lightning in it." 

1 P. 32. May one think of the burning thorn-bush which in Exod. iii. 2 showed 
the presence of God ? 

- Horeb (sun) and Sinai (moon) ; see Winckler, F., iii. 308, and comp. p. 24, 
n. 4, above. 



CHAPTER VII 



THE PATRIARCHS 



Gex. iv. 17 fF. : The children of Cain. 

Gen. iv. 25 f., v. 1 ff. : The children of Seth. 

It has latterly been coninionly agreed that there are two 
variants of one tradition on the tables of ancestors.^ H. 
Zimmern^ conjectures that the prototype of both variants of 
ten ancestors and seven " sages," ^ as the ••' imaginary ancestors " 
appear in the first place in Gen. iv., is to be found in the 
Babylonian ten prinieval kings and seven Interpreters. 

The following Babylonian material may be considered : — 

1. The Baby lonians teil of races " before the Deluge." They 
talk of " times before the Deluge," and a list of naines of 
Ancient-Babylonian kings, V. R. 44. 20«, bears the superscription, 
" These are the kings after the Deluge." In the epic of 
Gilgamesh, kings " who ruled the land from of old " are spoken 
of, and the city " which was of old "" \\hen the Deluge over- 
whelmed it. The text of the " Map of the World," fig. 9 
(p. 17), names the hero of the Deluge, Ut-napishtim, as a king 
who reigned before the Flood.^ In K 4023 some instructions 
in magic are referred back to " decisions of the ancient sages 
before the Flood '" {sha pf abkalle labirüti sha lam ahuhi)} The 
traditions on the inscriptions certainly affirm this age. Assur- 

1 First Buttmann, Mythologiis, 1828, i. 170 f. Comp. Budde, Die bibl. 
Urgeschichte, 90 ff. 

2 K.A.T., 3rded., 541. 

"^ See Lueken, Die Traditionen des Älenschengesch/echts, 148 ff., on the numbers 
ten and seven for the Patriarchs and primeval kings amongst the Egyptians, 
Phoenicians, Persians, Indians, and Chinese. " Populär idea " certainly does not 
suffice for explanation here. 

■* Sze Izduöar-JVimrod, 1891, p. 37 ; comp. p. 71, above. 

5 Comp. A^.J. T., 3rd ed., 537. 



LIST OF THE PATRIARCHS 



239 



banipal savs^ he has read " stones from the age before the 
Flood." Berossus records, as has been raentioned p. 51, tradi- 
tions about tablets ^vhich the Babylonian Noah hid in Sippar 
before the Flood, and the contents of which were spread abroad 
amongst men after the Deluge by bis children. 

Lists of the primeval kings and fuller detail about the ancient 
sages have not come to light amongst the cuneiform sources as 
yet open to us. Yet the list of the ten primeval kings in 
Berossus may be taken as reliable after the confirmation \ve 
have had of his other records.^ Some confirmatory traces have 
been found. In a catalogue of myths and epics,^ the sages are 
nanied who are said to have related the old legends, and some 
of them may be taken to be of the time before the Flood. 
Their names in part agree with the names given by Berossus. 



Berossus. 

Aloros 
Alaparos = 

Adaparos ■ 
Amelon 
Ammenon 



Megalaros, 

Megalanos 
Daonos, Daos 
Euedorachos, 
Euedoreschos 



Lists of the Patriarchs 

Cuneiform I'arallels. ! Biblical Parallels. 



Planets. 



= ArCiru 
= Adapa * 

= amelu (man) 
= ummanu, 
" master-crafts- 

man '"' 



= Enmeduranki 



Seth ' 

Enos (man) 
Cain = Kenan 
(smith) *5 

Mahalalel 

? (Jared) 
Enoch 



Sharaash^ 



1 Lehmann, Shaniashshiwuikin^ ii., table xxxv., L. iS. 

^ See upon this, articie " Oannes-Ea " in Roscher's Lexikon der Mythologie, 
iii. 577 ff., and now in addition, especially Zimmern, K.A. T. , 3rd ed., 530 ff. 

'■' Published by Haupt, Nimrod-Epos, 90-92. 

■* Comp. pp. 106 and 182, above. Adapa is Demiurgos, Logos. Late Judaic 
tradition makes Seth the Messiah. Hommel, P.S.B.A., 1893, 243 ff., has made 
Arüru and Adapa equivalent. 

5 See articie " Oannes Ea" in Roscher's Lexikon der Mythologie, iii., pr. 587, n. 

^ Comp, the Aramaic kainäyä, "smith." The Identification of Qain-Qenan 
and Ammenon-ummänu comes from Hommel. 

'' See p. 51, above. 

'^ Compare the tradition of the pseudo-epigraph, according to which Enoch, like 
Enmeduranki, was initiated into all the secrets of heaven. According to Sohar 



240 



THE PATRIARCHS 



Berossus. 
Amempsinos | 

Otiartes 

Ardatos, father 
of Xisuthros, 
see p. 245. 

Xisuthros, Sisu- 
thros.Sisithros 



Cuneiform Parallels. 

= Amel-Sin, man 
of the god Sin ^ 
= Ubara-Tutu ^ 



: Atrahasis^ (Ha- 
sis-atra) 



Biblical Parallels 

Methusalah 
? Lamech 



Noah 



Planets. 
Sin 

Marduk 



Nergal ? 

(In the sense 
o f U nd e r- 
\vorld=^realm 
ofEa?) 



" Enoch zonlJied xc'ith God,'''' Gen. v. 22 and 24 ; comp. chap. 
xvii. 1 in regard to Abraham : walk before the face of God. 
Union with God is meant, as in the case of Enmeduranki, 
p. 51, who received the heavenly secrets. " Because he icalked 
ic'itJi EhJihn, he disappeared : God took /»'?«"; Gen. v. 24. 
The translation of the Babylonian Noah with his wife and 
steersman mav be compared with that of Enoch. Berossus 
exphcitly says they were " taken away " (yeuea-Oai a(pav>]). 
The Babylonian story says they came into the " Company 
{puhru) of the gods "" and attained to " life '" : " Then they took 

Chadasch, fol. 35, col. 3 (quoted according to Noik, Kabb. Quellen, 272 ; " Zur 
Charakteristik der Sohar-Literatur," see B.N.T., 65), he wrote his observations in 
a book ; according to the legend this was the cabbalistic bock of Jezirah. The 
three hundred and sixty-five years of the life of Enoch is clearly the solar nuniber. 
The Jewish Feast of Hanfika (Enoch) is the fesiival of the winter solstice 
(24th December), later it was connected with an event of history (the dedication 
of the Temple). Jubiläen, iv. 21 : " Enoch was with the angels of god for six 
jubilees, and they showed him all that is in heaven and upon earth, the doniinion 
of the swi, and he wrote it all down." That is to say, they introduced him into 
all the secrets of the Ancient-Oriental conception of the universe, as is done in the 
Mysteries of Mithra. In the Liturgy of iVIithra published by Dieletich the 
mystic shallyfj' over the heaven like an eagle (in Deut, xxxii. 1 1) and gase upon all 
tliings. He shall him seif be like a wandering star and shall behold the way of 
God. 

^ A "sage of Ur" was so called whose "secrets" {nitsirtu — the same 
expression used by the Babylonian Noah before the story of the Deluge) are com- 
municated in a still unpublished text, K 80S0, R'.A. T., 3rd ed., 537. 

- Father of the Babylonian Noah. Tutu is Marduk as Lord of Exorcisms. 
Otiartes should be corrected to Opartes. 

^ "The Chief in prudence." Pseudonym for the Babylonian Noah (Ut- 
napishtim). Xisuthros is the reversal. He prays to the gods in an epic (see 
p. 262) for the deliverance of mankind from the severe tribulation which their 
iniquity has caused. 



LIST OF THE PATRIARCHS 241 

nie, and far away at the mouth of the rivers they made me to 
dwell." ^ Here the same expression is used {leqü) as in the case 
of Enoch and of Elijah (2 Kings ii. 3 ff'.), to which Zimmern 
draws attention, and also in Isa. liii. 8, in the case of the 
suffeving redeemer. 

Gen. V. 29 (Noah as saviour), see p. 271, and comp. p. 132, 

Gen. vi. 3 : " His days shall he an hundi'ed and tioenty years."" 
This was a judgment of punishment ; comp. 1 Sam. ii. 31 f. 
Life possibly lasted longer in early ages. The dynasty of 
Hammurabi in Babylon, for example, records gigantic length 
of reigns with corresponding length of life. 

Gen. vi. 4 : From the intercourse of the hene ha-elohim 
with mankind arose " giants, which were of renown in days of 
old." This indicates the heroic age, which in the myth lies 
between the race of gods and of men (for example, Marduk as the 
hero Adapa, see p. 106), like the heroes mentioned in the epic of 
Gilgamesh, who dwell in the Underworld, and like the Titans of 
the Greeks, who were cast down to Tartarus by Zeus. Jos., 
Ant., i. 3, 1, compares the giants with these Titans.^ Bar. iii. 
26 ff'. : " There (in the house of God, that is, in the world) the 
giants were born, that were famous of old, great of stature." 

In traditions outside the Bible the "giants" are connected 
with the story of the building of the Tower ; see Chap. XII. 

1 We may add yet two classical analogies to the translation to the divine State. 
Ganymede, third son of Troas, was on account of his beauty carried away in storm 
and thunder to serve Jupiter as cupbearer. Comp, further also //., xx. 233. 

- The heroic age is here connected with the later developed fall of the angels. 
The angels fall from heaven to the material world. The Jewish Targum in the 
passage quoted gives their names. The Rabbinical fable makes Eve have inter- 
course with Sammael. 



VOL, I. 16 



CHAPTER VIII 



BIBLICAL GENERATIONS 



Thb evolution of the world is conceived of as the cycles of a 
universe year, corresponding to the lunar or solar year, accord- 
ing to the emphasis laid upon nioon or sun in the particular 
astrological system. That gives for the generations a division 
either into four seasons, or into twelve according to the 
months,^ or into seventy-two (relatively seventy, according to 
the lunar system) weeks of five days. The theory would also 
allow a possible division into fifty-two (fifty according to the 
lunar svstem) weeks of seven days. The calculation as to when 
an aeon begins is a matter of speculation. We spoke of the 
ages at pp. 69 ff. The Biblical scribes would, for the most part, 
have nothing to do with the system. In its place appears the 
rule of God. But they knew the theory, and, amongst those 
chroniclers who may be credited with "scientific knowledge," 
we find speculative attempts to make the a^ons dependent upon 
the whole evolution of the world («), or to place them in con- 
nection with some special historical or apocalyptical period of 
the course of the world (ö, c). 

(rt) The sacerdotal writings with their seven (?) Toledoth : ^ 

' Thus the twelve ages of the Etruscans (p. l68) bear upon the decimal system, 
like the 12,000 years of the world's duration in Zoroaster's teaching. Compare for 
example 4 Esr. xiv. 11 ; Apc. Ba. liii. Compare also the 12,000 years of the 
Indians (the Deluge occurs when Brahma sleeps), see F. Schlegel, Weisheit der 
Inder, 230 ; 12,000 years as the age of the gods in the Book of Laws of Manu 
(i. 72). Also the cycle of Berossus (36,000 years) may well be taken as twelve 
times three ihousand according to the twelve signs of the zodiac. The decimal 
System is secondary. The " false Orpheus," Orph., Argon., 1 100, gives twelve 
myriads of years as the duration of the universe year. 

'■^ SeeGunkel, Genesis, 241 ff., and Zimmern, K.A. T., 3rded., 542. Gunkel had 
already seen that the Toledoth of Adam, Noah, Terah, and Moses correspond to 
the ages. But it is in nowise dealing here with the quaternary number. See 
also p. 243, n. I. 

242 



BIBLICAL GENERATIONS 243 

1. The generation "of the creation of heaven and the earth" 

with the seven " days '' of Creation ; ^ Gen. ii. 4. 

2. The generations of Adam ; Gen. v. 1. The Patriarchs 

with the gigantic length of life.^ 

3. The generations of Noah after the Dehige ; Gen. vi. 9. 

4. The generations of Terah (Abraham) ; Gen. xi. 27. 

5. The generations of Moses. 

6. The generations of David ; see Ruth iv. 18. 

T. The generations glorified by the priestly editor as "the 
ne^v• age "" — Ezra. 

(b) The four " historic " ages in Dan. vii. 

(c) Specially connected with periods of the last days : 
seventy weeks {shahu'-im) •' in Dan. ix. 24 f. ; the twelve last 
" shepherds,"' Enoch xc. 17 (Kautzsch, Pseudepigram, 296); 
the twelve periods of the oppression, Apoc. Baruch xxvii. {ib., 
p. 421); the fom- stages of the last days, Rev. vi. 1 ff., viii. 6 ff., 
belong to this.'' 

Later Jewish literature had a special preference for the old 
teaching. In the Book of the Jubilees, lately placed in the 
time of the Maccabees, w^hich is closely related to the Priestly 
Code, they reckon by weeks of years and by universe years. 
i. 29 speaks of tables (!) upon which the universe years down 
to the renewal of the world are inscribed. In the Book of 
Enoch ° there appear to be seven periods from Adam onwards. 
How far these speculations penetrated into late Christian ages 
is shown by the Sachsenspiegel^ where the controversial point as 

1 That here Toledoth, Gen. ii. 4. signifies nothing different to the other 
passages, Hommel (diftering from Kautzsch) has rightly made prominent in his 
G.G.G., p. 182, n. 3. 

2 If the numbers are a cloak for "universe months " (see Zimmern, K.A.T., 
3rd ed., 541) it is cerlainly not to be understood in the sense of J0/12 of the whole 
cycle (see Zimmern, loc. cit., 541, 556). Each seon again mirrors in itself the 
cycle of the universe. 

^ Compare the seventy years of Jer. xxv. 11, and for the conversion of the 
years into days, see Winckler, K.A. T., yd ed., 334 ; see also n. 4. below. 

-> The ten weeks of the last days in Enoch xciii., like the ten " days " of Rev. ii. 
10, belong to the same motif asjjw« kippor, as the tenth day (day of deliverance), 
according to the Jewish autumn new year, signifying the Judgment Day ; comp. 
B.N.T., 70 f. 

° 93 ff. (Kautzsch, Psctidepigraiii, 2S9 ff.). 

" Edited by Homeyer, 3rd ed., 1S61. 



244 BIBLICAL GENERATIONS 

to whether there are six or seven shields (classes of knights of 
equal rank) is to be settled in this way : it is the same as the 
seven ases of the world. It is not known for certain whether 
there are seven or six. But the author himself indines to 
seven shields and ages, and refers to "Origins,"^ where six 
ases are counted to the time when God becomes incarnate ; the 
seventh is the one in which the knight Eike von Repgau wrote 
the Sachsenspiegel} 

At the beginning of each age appears a " teacher." Thus 
with the fathers of Berossus there appears to be a revelation at 
the turning-point of each of the four seasons.^ The divine 
revelation in the sacerdotal stories of Adam, Noah, Abraham, 
and Moses corresponds to this speculation ; ^ see p. 50. 

Later Jewish speculations name as teachers (1) Seth, under 
whom they first called upon the name of Yahveh ; (2) Noah, 
who taught the seven commandments ; (3) Moses, the lawgiver ; 
the expected David was counted as the fourth. 

With this teaching there was connected a sort of transmi- 
gration theory (Gilgul) : the soul of Seth passed into Noah and 
the soul of Noah into Moses. Also the division into Present 
and Future {r^^iTl and ^^^Ti) is ultimately connected with the 
astral conception of the universe. But here an essential differ- 
ence shows between the Babylonian and the Biblical conception. 
The Babylonian " scientific " ideas know nothing of a blessed 
time beyond the destruction of the world. We find an apoka- 
tastasis and palingenesia only in the theology of Zoroaster, 
whose theological use of the " teaching " forms a parallel to 
Biblical theology. 

1 " Sources," Isidore of Seville is meant, in his work Etymologiarum seit 
origimiin Hbri XX. (v. 38, see Migne, S.L., Ixxxiii. 1017 ff.). But it is not quite 
in accordance with Isidore, who names Adam, Noah, Abraham, David, the 
emigration into Babylon, and the incarnation as beginnings of the six ages ; the 
Sachsenspiegel names : Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and the incarnation. 

2 Oriental presentments of stories have a tendency to emphasise the beginning 
of a new era. Berossus shows that the Seleucids (Alexander) brought the new 
era ; see K.A.T., ßrd ed., 317. 

3 Zimmern, K.A.T., 3rd ed., 542. 
■* Gunkel, Genesis, 241 ff. 



CHAPTER IX 

kxtra-biblical traditions of the deluge ^ 

Babyloxian 

Long before the discovery of the cuneiform records it was known 
that the Biblical account of the Deluge was related to a 
Babylonian tradition. Abydenus and Alexander Polyhistor 
had transmitted the story of the great flood (^te'ya? /cara/cXi^cr/xo?) 
told by the Babylonian priest Berossus. 

The Tradition according to Berossus - 

Alexander (Polyhistor) relates further^ according to the 
Chaldeaji Avritings, the following : After the death of Ardatos his 
son Xisuthros reigned eighteen saren. Under him a great flood 
occurred. The story of it runs as follows : Kronos ^ appeared to 
him in a dream and said to him that on the 1 öth Daisios * nian- 
kind would be destroyed by a flood. He therefore commanded 
him to inscribe in writing the beginning, middle. and end of 

^ It can be proved that almost in every part of the world there has been a 
tradition of a great deluge. Andree has collected sixty fables of the Flood in 
Die Flutsagen ethnographisch betrachtet (1891). He comes to the conclusion that 
forty of them are genuine, whilst twenty are dependent upon the Babylonian fable 
either as additions or copies. This is nowise correct (comp. p. 259). Literary 
dependence is not a chief feature here. As with the cosmogony, it is a case of a 
tradition spreading throughout the world, the original source of which is perhaps 
the Valley of the Euphrates. But the cosmic myth which presents the Flood as a 
return to primeval chaos, from which a new world, a new ason, proceeds, must be 
distinguished from the tradition of an historical event. 

- Syncellus, liii. 19-56, 3rd ed. ; Eusebius, Chron., i. 19 ff. ; Fragni. hist. Grcec, 
ii. 501 f. Comp. Abydenus, Fragm. hist. Grcic, iv. 28 1. The record differs in 
many respects from the cuneiform criticism known to us. The true inscription of 
Berossus which was cut in Babylon has not yet been found. 

= Probably = Inl;l(Bel.) 

^ The night of füll moon in the month Sivan. 

245 



246 



TRADITIONS OF THE DEI.UGE 



evei-ything, and to buiy the record in the city of Sippar.i Then to 
build a boat and to get into it with bis relations and connections. 
They should also take in stores, and birds^ and four-footed beasts, 
and set sail when all was ready. If, however, they should ask bim 
whithei- he journeyed, he should reply : "To the gods, to pray for 
the good of man." Xisuthros obeyed and built a vessel five (Varia- 
tion by Armenius : fifteen) ells long and two ells wide. Then he 
carried out all that was commanded, and brought in wife and child 
and all connected with him. 

When the flood had come to pass, directly it ceased he let loose 
one of the birds. This, however, could "find no place where it 

could alight^ and therefore 
it returned to the ship. 
After a few days he again 
let it loose, and it came 
back with niud upon its 
feet. When he let it go 
for the third time, it re- 
turned no more to the 
ship. By this Xisuthros 
knew that the earth had 
again appeared. So he 
took apart some of the 
planks of the ship and 
saw that the ship was di-iven upon a mountain. Thereupon he and 
his wife and daua;hter and the steersman came out and threw them- 




FlG. 74. — Ancient-Babylonian seal cvlinder. 
Referiing to the Deluge? 




Fig. 75. — Ancient-Bal:)ylonian seal cylinder. 

selves in prayer upon the earth, and erected an altar. After he had 
sacrificed to the gods upon this, he and all who had gone out of the 
ship disa2:)peared. Those who remained in the ship, finding he did 
not return, came out also and searched for him, calling his name. 
He himself did not again become visible to them, but there came a 
voice from heaven, which called to them to live in the fear of God, 
for he himself had attained, through fearing God, to dwell with 

1 P. 52. In Sippar lies a play of words on sepher {ship7-u), Bouk of Revelation 
(comp, the Biblical Kirjat-sepher) ; see p. 48, and comp. p. 262, n. i. 



THE DELUGE IN CUNEIFORM 247 

the gods. The sanie honour was partly accorded to his wife and 
daughter and the steersman. He commanded them also that they 
should return again to Babylon, and that they should take the 
writings from Sippar and spread them abroad amongst mankind. 
The place Avhere they were was in Armenia. 

When they heard this they sacrificed to the gods, and went on 
foot (by land) to Babylon (I). Of the vessel, which was left there, 
something remains still in the Kurdish Mountains in Armenia, 
and many cut asphalt from it and use it as a preventive against 
sickness. 

So they came to Babylon, took the writings from Sippar, and 
founded many cities, sanctiiaries, and colonies. 

The Record of the Deluge in Cuneiform Writing^ 

Ut-napishtim - said to him, to Gilgamesh : 

I will unfold to thee, O Gilgamesh, the hidden matter, 
10 and a secret of the gods will I teil to thee. 
J. Shurippak, the city, which thou knowest, 

which lies [lipon the banks] of the Enphrates, 

this city has existed from of old, the gods in it — 

the heart of the great gods drove them to make a stormy 
flood. 

(There were) their father in the midst Ann, 

their counsellor the hero Bei, 

their herald Ninib, 

their leader En-nu-gi. 

"The Lord of Wisdom," Ea, ....(?) with them 
20 and related their counsel to a kikkishu (reed fence ?) : ^ 

"O kikkishu, kikkishu, O igaru, igaru (wall), 

kikkishu, hearken, igaru observe ! ^ 

O man of Shurippak, son of Ubaratutu, 

demolish (?) the house, build a ship, 

^ Included in the Xlth tablet of the epic of Gilgamesh (library of Assurbanipal ; 
so far traces are to be found in the literature down to the epoch of Hammurabi ; we 
find a related fragment of the time of Ammizaduga, about 2100). The fragment 
from Nippur, reproduced p. 269, is possibly still older. The whole has beeu latest 
translated by Winckler, IC.T., 3rd ed. ; previously by Jensen, K.B., vi. 230 ff., 
and by A. Jeremias, Izdubar-Nimrod, and Nikel, Genesis tind Keilschrift, f. 176. 

- Certainly to be read so ; an Ancient-Babylon fragment of the epic M, V.A. G., 
1902, I ff., writes U-ta-na-pi-ish-tim ; the name probably means "he saw life " 
(Jensen). The two figs. 74 and 75 are only added here as possible material. 
They have alvvays been put in connection with llie Ancient-Babylonian myths of 
Gilgamesh. 

■' According to line 196, he sends a vision in a dream. 

■* According to line 195 the puzzling passage agrees with a dream vision, which 
is given by Ea to the Babylonian Noah. Berossus says : Kronos appeared to him 
in sleep, and revealed the Coming Deluge to him. 



248 TRADITIONS OF THE DELUGE 

leave property and goods, look to thy life — 

give up possessions, save thy life ; 

bring into the ship living creatures of every kind. 

The ship which thou shalt build, 

.... ells (?) shall be the measure of its size^ 
30 • • • . ells (?) shall be designed (?) its breadth and its length. 

.... place it (.'') upon the ocean.' 

I understood it and spake to Ea^ to my Lord : 

" demolish (?) my Lord ; what thou commandedst^ 

I observed and I will carry it out. 

But what (?) shall I say to the city, to the people and to the 
eiders ? " 

Ea opened his mouthj when he spake, 

and said unto nie, his servant : 

" Thus shalt thou say to them : 

' Because Lilil hateth me, 
40 I will not dwell in your city, 

will not tarry (longer) upon Lilil's earth, 

to the ocean will I descend, with Ea, my Lord, to dwell. 

Upon you shall they [the gods] let fall rain. 

] birds, prey to the fish, 

] harvest 

A point of time hath Ea (Shamash ?) established -] " they 
who rule the kukku 

[one evening shall let rain] over you a . . . . rain.' " 

[So soon as something of the dawn] appeared 

[Aboiä seien lines are 7nutilated.] 

the streng one brought what was needed for building. 

Upon the fifth day I designed its form. 

II. After the design (??) 120 ells high were its walls 
the edge of its roof reached 140 ells. 
60 I designed (drew) its .... (the ship) I drew it myself. 
I built it in 6 stories (?), 
divided it into 7 divisions. 
Its inferior I divided into 9 divisions. 
I sprinkled the shikkat (?) with water in its inferior. 
I made (?) me a rudder and placed the furniture in it. 
3 (variant 6) saren of dust I poured out upon the furnace,^ 
3 saren asphalt poured 1 into it. 

Whilst 3 saren in addition brought the bearers of its (the 
ship's) sussulu in oil : 

1 According to Berossus he was also commanded to bury in Sippar tablets 
inscribed with the beginning, middle, and end of all things ; see pp. 246, 262. 
- According to Berossus, night of the füll moon in Sivan ; see p. 246. 
^ Kiru, comp. Hebrew Ktr ; see C. 7\, xvii. 4, line 5 (Zimmern). 



THE DELUGE IN CUNEIFORM 249 

Besides one sai- of oil^, whicli was to be used at the sacvifice (?),^ 
70 required 2 saren of oil the shipbuilder. 

For the [people] I slew beef^ 

I killed [lambs] daily^ 

with must (?) .... (.^) oil and wme 

[I gave drink] to the people like as with river water, 

a festival [did I Institute] like unto the New Year festival (Anita). 

hl (.?) ointment did I take in my hand. 

[befojre sun[set] .... the ship was ready. 

was heavy 

above and below 

so thvee thirds of it. 

[With all that I had], I filled it (the ship), 

with all that I had of silver, I filled it, 

with all that I had of gold, I filled it, 

with all that I had of living creatures, I filled it. 

I brought up into the ship my male and female household.- 

Cattle of the field, beasts of the field, artisans, all did I bring 

into it. 
The appointed tinie hath Shamash established. 
" When the regents of the kukku in the evening a . . . . rain 

let rain, 
90 then enter into the ship snd close thy door (variant the ship)." 
That appointed time arrived, 

the regents of the kukku in the evening let .... a rain rain 
The dawning of the day I feared, 
The day to see I was afraid. 
I entered into the ship, and shut my door. 

For governing the ship I gave over to Puzur-Bel, the navigator, 
the building together with its contents. 

So soon as something of the dawn appeared, 
there arose from the depths of the heaven black clouds. 
Adad thundered within them. 
100 Whilst Nebo and "the King" (Mavduk) went before 

(both) as throne-bearers (?) marched over mountain and Valley, 

Nergal tore loose the targallu, 

Ninib^ drew nigli, he (Adad) let a Hood of water stream down. 

The Anunnaki raised the torches, 

by their (the torches') flanie illuminating the land. 

Ädad's Storni marched over the heaven, 

changed all liglit into [darkness]. 

^ The soleninities described lines 71-76 are meant. 

^ In Berossus : wift, daughter, and steersman and other people; see p. 247, 
Compare the cuneiform text, p, 253. 

'■' See p. 141. The four planetary gods of the four corners of the earth ; 
comp. pp. 2S Ü'. 



250 TRADITIONS OF THE DELIJGE 

III. He [flooded] the land like . . . ., 
one day long . . . . ed the storm, 
110 raged stormilv:, [the waters rose above] the mountam, 
hke a battle storm they broke loose npon mankind . . ., 
so that brother could not see brother, 
mankind was not known in heaven. 
The gods were fearful of the stormy flood, 
they retiredj mounted up to the heaven of Ana. 
The gods cowered like a dog, encamped by the surrounding 

wall.i 
Ishtar wailed like a travailing Avoman, 

the "mistress of the gods," with the beautiful voice, cried : 
" The Past is become earth. 
12U Because I ordered evil before (variant, in the assembly of) the 

gods, 
as I ordered evil before (variant, in the assembly of) the gods, 
the strife was ordered for the destruction of my mankind, 
(but now ask) I : ' Have I borne my mankind 
so that (?) they should fill the sea like fishes ? ' 
The gods of the Anunnaki wept with her, 
the gods sat npon the ashru - amidst tears, 
closed were their lips .... 
Six days and [six] nights 
di'ew nigh (lasted) the wind, the storm flood and the hurricane 

swept the land. 
130 When the seventh day came, ceased the hurricane, the storm 

flood, 
which had fought like an army (?).-^ 
The sea calmed itself, the storm quieted itself, the storm flood 

ceased. 
I looked lipon the sea, whilst I let lamentations resound, 
and all mankind were again become earth, 
like uri spread out before me the plains (?).■* 
I opened the hatchway, the light feil upon my face, 
I kneeled down, sat me down and wept, 
over my face ran the tears. 
I looked upon the i)arts of the earth, as I looked (?) upon 

the sea. 
uo After 1 2 (double hours ?) land arose, 
upon the Mount Nizir the ship laid itself. 
The Mount Nizir held the ship fast, let it not move (away). 

1 Comp. p. 271, and see n. 2 in connection with line 126. 

2 As/int, usually translated "were bowed down." I conjecture it nieans a 
cosmic place, like line 116 ; see pp. 118, 143, 180. 

=* "Like a woman in travail"? Jensen, A'.ß., vi. 530. 

■• Thus Winckler. Very uncertain. Jensen, K.B.^ vi. 239, conjectures : 
" Then when the daylight was come, I prayed." 



THE DELUGE IN CUNEIFORM 251 

One day, a second day held the Mount Nizir, etc. 
the tJiird day, the fourth day the Mount Nizir. etc. 
the fifth, the sixth the Mount Nizir, etc. 
When the seventh day came. 

I let out a dove and set her free. 

The dove flew away and returned again, 

since no place to sit was there, she returned. 
150 I let out a swallow and set her free. 

The swallow flew away, and returned again, 

I let a raven out and set him free. 

The raven flew away, saw the lessening (?) of the water, 

flew nearer to it (?), .... croaked (?) and returned not. 

(Tli.en) let I out (all) to the four winds, offered a sacrifice, 

made a libation on the sunimit of the mountain, 

twiee seven sacrificial vessels set 1 up, 

beneath them I poured calamus, cedar wood, and myrtle. 
160 The gods snielled the odour, 

the gods smelled the fragrance, 

the gods assembled themselves like flies above the sacrificer. 
IV, As soon as the ' mistress of the gods ' Avas come there, 

they lifted the noble elüti (?) .... which Anu had prepared 
according to their wishes : 

These days (.'') — by the ornament of my neck — will I not 
forget, 

I will think upon these days, I will not forget them for ever. 

The gods niay draw nigh to the libation, 

Inlil (however) may not go to the libation, 

because he did not remember, he stirred up the Storni flood 
170 and delivered up my mankind to destruction." 

Now when at last Inlil came hither, 

saw the ship, Inlil was angry, 

was angry with the gods, the Igigi : 

" Who has escaped of living creatures ? 

No man shall remain alive in the judgment (?)." 

Ninib opened his mouth, in that he spake, 

he Said to the hero Bei : 

" Who besides Ea arranges things ? 

Ea knoweth every doing." 
ISO Ea opened his mouth, in that he spake, 

he Said to the hero Bei : 

"Thou wise amongst the gods, hero Bei, 

how, hast thou not considered, when thou didst stir up the 
storm flood ? 

Upon the sinner lay his sins, 

upon the blasphemer lay his blasphemy, 

but .... shall not be exterminated .... 

Why hast thou stirred up a storm flood ? 



252 TRADITIONS OF THE DELUGE 

If a lion had come and had lessened mankind ! 
Why hast thou stirred up a storm flood ? 
190 If a panther had come and had lessened mankind I 
Why hast thou stirred up a storm flood ? 
Famine might have entered and [devastated] the land ! 
Why hast thou stirred up a storm flood ? 
Nergal (pestilence) might come and [strike] the land. 
I have not betrayed the secret of the great gods. 
Atra-hasis did I let see dreams (and so) perceived he the 

secret of the gods." 
When he came to his senses^ 
Inlil ascended upon the ship. 

He grasped my hand^ led me off (upon the shore). 
20U He led my wife off, and made her kneel by my side, 

he took hold of us (?) while he stepped between us and 

blessed us : 
" Formerly was Ut-napishtim a man^ 
for evermore shall Ut-napishtim and his wife be esteemed, 

like unto us gods ourselves. 
Far away shall Ut-napishtim dwell at the mouth of the river." 
Then they brought me far away^ at the mouth of the river did 
they let me dwell. ^ 

Besides this there were other fixed literary forms of the story. 
(«) Hilprecht fragment,- found at Nippur, dating from the 
beginning of the third millennium : 

thee .... 

I will unloose. 

all mankind shall be washed away, 

all life, before the Flood breaks forth, 

upon all that may be there, will I bring destruction 

and annihilation^ 

build a great ship and 

füll high shall it be builded. 

it shall be a house boat, that bears all that shall be 

rescued of the living. 

and it shall have a streng roof. 

[The boat] which thou shalt make .... 

hide therein the beast of the field, the bird of heaven 
.... in place of a great multitude .... 
.... and the family 



^ In Berossus, Xisuthros, his wife, his daughter, and the steersman hve with the 
gods, the others return to Babylon. 

- The Babylonian Expedition, Series D, vol. v. , text i. T/ie Earliest Version 
of the Babylonian Belüge Story, Philadelphia, T910. 



THE DELUGE IN CUNEIFORM 253 

(6) The text D.T., 42,^ from the library of Assurbanipal, in 
which Ut-napishtim bears the name Atrahasis, "chief in 
prudence" (which on table xi. of the epic of Gilgamesh is a 
Pseudonym), as a proper name : 



[when arrived] the time, which I will describe to thee, 

go into the ship, elose again the doors of the ship. 

Bring in hither thy corn, thy possessions and goods^ 

thy [wife], thy male and female family, the artisans, 

cattle of the field, beasts of the field, so many as eat green 

food, 
I will send to thee, they shall guard thy door. 



Atra-hasis opened his mouthj in that he spake, 

and he said unto Ea his Lord : 

["Never"] have I built a ship .... 

Draw for me upon the earth a sketch (of it). 

(Then) will I look at the sketch and [build] a ship. 

.... draw upon the earth .... 

that thou commandedst .... 

(c) The mythological fragment of the time of Ammizaduga 
(about 2100 B.c.), which also teils of Atrahasis and which makes 
the Deluge (abnbu) happen earlier. This text is closely related 
to another one dealing with Ea and Atrahasis, which teils of 
temptations which come because of the iniquity of man and 
which seems to culminate in the Deluge.'- 

(d) The text of the " Babylonian map of the world '" (see fig. 9), 
which mentions Ut-napishtim as king, predecessor of Dagan (?) 
.... and where it seems to teil of the " Year of the raging 
serpent" {mushrushshu) \ comp. p. 2^8 above, and pp. 18 f. 

A remnant of the tradition lies also in the designation of the 
mounds (now called "Tel") as tU ahühl Hammurabi says 
that he will make the land of those who do not obey his laws 
like tu abfibi, that is, "mounds of the Deluge'" {H.C., xxvii. 
79 f.). They looked upon the ruinous hills as results of the 
great flood.^ 

^ Latest translation, K.T., 94 f. 

2 Both texts and translations in K.B., iv. i, 28S ff., 274 ff. ; see Zimmern, 
K.A.T., 3rd ed., 552 ff. Further, upon the subject, 261 f., comp. 227. 
^ Winckler, Die Gesetze Hainnutrabis, pp. 80 f. 



254 TRADITIONS OF THE DELUGE 

Egypt ^ 

In the Book of the Cow the following is recorded : — In the 
beginning the Sun-god was king of the earth. But, since he 
had grown old, men no longer believed in his authority. At his 
command the goddess Hathor began a slaughter amongst nian- 
kind. But he saved a few by cunning. He caused beer to be 
brewed and to be mixed with the blood. Hathor drank of the 
mixture and became drunk, so that she could no longer recognise 
mankind to destroy them.- 

In the temple of Amon-Ra, erected by Darius I. at Hib in 
the Great Oasis, there is a hymn in hieroglyphics the ideas of 
which are quite in accordance with those of the Book of the Cow ; 
it says : "^ 

Thy throne from of old was upon the high field of Hermopohs- 
Magna. Thou hadst left (the Island of the Blessed) the land of 
the oasis, and appearedst in the niists, in the hidden egg. Near to 
thee Avas the goddess Amente. Thou tookest a seat upon the cow 
and took hold of her horns and didst swim here upon the great 
flood of the sacred Meh-ur. There were no plants. He began, 
when he united (himself) with the earth and when the Avaters rose 
to the niountain. 

The Theban Book of the Dead contains in the badly 
preserved chapter clxxv.^ niention of a flood, at the end of 
which Osiris became king of Heracleopolis. 

Sykia 

According to the Pseudo-Lucian, De di'a Syria, 12, a similar 
tradition was preserved at Bambyke in the Greek temple 
of Derceto in the form of a fable of the founding of the 
sanctuary. By naming the hero Deucalion the Greeks claimed 
the fable for their own primeval times. But the mutilated 

^ Comp. Wiedemann, Religion of the Ancient Egyplians (revised edition of 
the German Religion der alten Ägypter). The Deluge of the papyrus of Ebers is 
interpreted by Schaefer, Aeg. Ztschr., xx.wi. 129 ff. 

- Compare with this the motif of the deluge of blood in the Edda tradition, 
p. 157. 

' Brugsch, Reise nach der 'grossen Oase El Khargch, Leipzig, 1S7S. Analogies 
are to be found in the hymns of Khnum, see Daressy in Rec. de iravanx rel. ä la 
phil. Egypt, xxvii., pp. 82 ff., 187 ff. 

■* Treated by Naviüe, Proc. Soc. Bibl. Arc/i., xxvi. 251 ft., 2S7 ff. 



IN SYRIA 



255 



surname liKvOia betrays Xisuthros, that is to say, Sisithros ; 
according to Buttmann's fine conjecture it should be read 
AevKaXlowa toi/ ÜLauOea and the second name be understood as 
patronymic. The fable relates (de Dea Syra) as follows : 

The wickedness of man became so great that they had to be 
destroyed. Then the fountains of the eavth and the floodgates of 
heaven were opened^ the sea rose ever higher, the whole earth was 
covered with water and all men went under. Only the pioiis 
Deucalion (Xisuthros) was rescued, by hiding himself with his 
wives and children in a great ehest '' Avhich he possessed." When 
he entered there came in also, in pairs, every kind of four-footed 
thing, serpents, and whatever eise lives upon the earth. He took 
them all in, and God caused great friendship to be amongst them. 
At last the water ran away through a small cleft in the earth. 
Deucalion opened the ehest, built altars, and founded over the 
cleft in the earth the holy temple of the goddess. 

Arl:ü on the Co'ins of Apaineia. — A remarkable local stanip 
is shown on the bronze^ coins of the Phrygian city Celsente, 
later nanied Apanieia, the pseudonyni 
for which, K//3aiTo?, "ehest," can be 
traced back to the time of Augustus. 
The coins (fig. 76) show two scenes of 
the Belüge. On the right is the ehest 
upon waves of water, with a man and 
wonian raising themselves out of it, 
and upon the open lid of it a dove 
sitting, whilst a second (!) dove Avith 
a brauch flies towards it from the left. 
On the left stand the sauie flgures 
(in both presentments the womau wears a veil thrown back), 
with the right band raised in prayer. The picture certainly 
illustrates an ancient Phrygian form of the fable, which the 
Greek Phrygians have used here.' The coins were peculiar to 
Apameia, perhaps in niemory of a certain historical event. 
The name Noah (NQE) rests upon Jewish (or Christian ?) 
inttuence. 




Fig. 76. — Phrygian coin 
from Apameia. 



1 Fourth Century a.D. Compare wilh this Usener, 4S ff. 

2 A second Phrygian story of the Deluge will be spoken of under Sodom and 
Gomorrha (Baucis and Philemon, Ovid, Met., viii. 615 ff.). 



256 TRADITIONS OF THE DELUGE 

Persian Legends of THE Deluge 

Veiididad ii. is mentioned p. 163. They are connected with 
the primeval hero Yima. He is commissioned by Ahuramazda, 
before the Flood, which comes as punishment for the wickedness 
of men, to save hiniself and to care for the preservation of 
creation. He hides the rescued in a walled-in place. ^ 

Indiax Legends of the Deluge ^ 

As far back as the Vedic age the fable was established in all 
essential features.^ 

The Brahniana " of the hundred paths "' relates : 

There came into the liands of Manu, the first man and son of 
the God of the sun, whilst he was washing, a fish^ who said to him : 
"Take care of me and I will save you." " From what wilt thou 
save me ? " "A Hood will carry away all this creation, 1 will save 
thee from that." Manu took care of the fish, which grew strong. 
When it had becouie a great fish (compare Ea in the Babylonian 
Deluge Story) he put him into the sea. But before that it said : 
" In such and such year the flood will come, so thou mayest prepare 
thyself a ship and turn (in spirit) to me : when the flood rises 
thou shalt enter the ship and I -will save thee." Manu built the 
ship, entered it at the appointed time, and bound the rope to the 
hörn of the fish, who had come back and was swimming near. 
Thereupon it (the fish) hurried away to the mountain in the north 
(Mountain of the World, see p. 266), then when the waters sank, the 
ship rested upon it. Therefore he called the northern mountain 
avasar-panam (" descent of Manu"). The flood had carried away 
every creature, only Manu remained. He lived in prayer and 
fasting, desirous of descendants. Then he instituted also the paha 
sacrifice. He offered butter and cream. And from this there 
arose a woman. She came to Manu. Manu said to her : '' Who 
art thou.'*" "Thy daughter." " How ai't thou my daughter, 
beautiful one .^ " ''From those sacrificial gifts hast thou begotten 
me. I am Ida (that is, ^ the benediction '). Turn to me when 
thou offerest sacrifice ; then shalt thou become rieh in children and 

^ The catastrophe here is not rain, but cold, which, however, when the snow 
melts, causes an inundation. 

^ Their independence, as an Iranian improvement upon an ancient Aryan myth 
of originally religious meaning, is emphasised by Lindner in Festgrtisz an R. Roth, 
213 ff. This view is correct, contrary to the hypothesis of borrowing held by 
Nöldeke and otheis. But the whole controversy falls with the acceptance ofthe 
material having travelled also to the Iranians. Whence it came is cura posterior. 

^ Usener, 25 fT. 



INDIA -CHINA 257 

in cattle. Whatever blessing thoii desirest from me^ that shall be 
given unto thee." Manu lived with her ia prayer and fasting, 
desii-oiis of descendants. Through her he begot this generation, 
which is noM' called the generation of Manu. Whatever blessing 
he desii'ed from her, that he received. 

In the Vedic writings ouly one passage of the Käthaka has 
reference to the fable : 

The water washed (the world) away,^ Manu alone survived. 

The epic Mahäbhävata has amplified the old fable : 

Manu is in this no more the first man, but a hero, who outdid 
his father and his grandfather in strength, power, and beauty and 
abstinence. He did penance for 10,000 years long, with raised 
arms, standing on one leg, with sunken head and never winking. 
A fish, glittering like moonlight, came to him, j)rayed to him for 
protection, told him of the flood whieh would overwhelm the 
world, and procured his rescue. With Manu seven Sages (Rishi) 
entered the ship. He brought every kind of seed " as the Brahmans 
taught of old " on board. For many years the fish guided the ship 
through the wide waters with his hörn. " No land was visible, and 
all directions were unrecognisable ; all was water and air and sky." 
The ship was anchored by the seven Sages upon the highest point 
of the Himalayas. The fish revealed himself to be " Brahma, the 
Prajapati " : ^^ Thei'e is none greater than I ; in the form of a fish I 
have rescued thee from this danger. And Manu, together Avith 
the gods, is to make everything, Asuras and men and all worlds 
and all that is in order or in disorder." 

The Chinese Legexds of the Deluge - 

They existed when the earth (world, China) had long been 
an organised political state. The tradition appears even in its 
most ancient form (handed down nietrically) to be a remem- 
brance, grown fabulous, of the draining, canal-bui kling, and 
regulating of the ba.sin of the river Hoang-Ho. In the oldest 
form of the fable this draining is placed amongst the technical 

1 Or " washed the world?" Is there here a simile as in i Pet. iii. 20 f. : 
the Deluge a cleansing of the world? According to H. Jacobi (Usener 28), it 
was first in the epic Mahäbhärata and in the Puränas that the destruclion of the 
world by water or by fire was founded upon the corruption of man. 

2 Shti-kiii£[, i. IG, II, and ii. 4, l (Legge, Chinese Classics, iii. I, 24, and 77) ; 
comp, also iii. i, 60. A fuller description in Mencius, iii. i, iv. 7, iii. 2, ix. 3 
(Legge, Chinese Classics, ii. 250, 279). I am indebted to Professor Conrady for 
these Statements. 

VOL. I. 57 



258 TRADITIONS OF THE DELUGE 

works of Yu,^ and oiilv later (fourth Century b.c.) tlie variant first 
appears — perhaps in itself older — of the help of the winged 
dragon in it ; compare the poeui of Kuh Yüan, p. 166. 

A Northern Legend of the Dei.uge ^ 

One Single passage of the Edda, which has been mentioned 
p. 170, gives evidence of this : 

Countless winters before the creation of the earth 

Bergehiiir was born ; 
the earhest I know is, that the crafty giant 

was saved in a boat.-^ 

Bergehnir is one of the older giants. Snorre's Edda records 
{Gylfaginnhig^ 7):^ "The sons of Bur killed Ymir, and there 
flowed from his body so much blood, that the whole generation 
of Frost giants was drowned. Only one escaped with his 
dependants. He entered into his boat and saved himself 
in it." 

The Greek Legend of the Deluge 

Recorded by Apollodorus, i. 712 ff. Zeus wished to destroy 
the generation of mankind of the previous age(!); but by 
the counsel of Prometheus, Deucalion niade a ehest, put food 
therein, and entered it with his wife Pyrrha. A few saved 
themselves by flight to the mountains. After nine days and 
nights Deucalion landed upon Parnassus. He came forth and 
offered a sacrifice to Zeus. Zeus permitting him to express a 
wish, he prayed for mankind ; and they arise by his throwing 
over his head " the bones of the mother,"" that is, the stones of 
the mountain, which are changed into men.^ 

1 Richthofen, China, i. 344 ff. 

- Lindner, " Die iranische YlwX.szge,^' mihe Fes f^i^rusz na R. v. Roth, 1S93, 213 ff. 
Oldenberg, in Religion der J'eda, inclines to a direct borrowing from Babylunia. 
Here also is a case of the Teaching having travelled. 

^ Lindner, Waßhnidnir, 35 ; Gehring, Edda, p. 64. 

■* Gehiing, p. 302 f. 

^ The same motif as in the Slav legend of the rainbow ; see p. 270 The 
Odyssey, xix. 164, talks of the stones from which man is descended. Should \ve 
here think of the stones endowed with souls, the meteors (Baity-los = bet-ili), 
which as fallen Stars are living beings ? In Eusebius, /';vr/. Ev., i. 10, Betylos 
i.s Ihe name of one of the four sons of Euranos (heaven) and the earth, and the 



GREEK 25*) 

Many other fables of the Deluge might be added whicli noint 

mentioiiecl, p. ,0. Riem, i.e., coiints sixtv-eiaht related fables of 
the Deluge, reducing the eigbty-five reckoned by AndrL ?,, 45 
n. 1) to this number. ^ ^-viituee [p. ,4.t, 

who „„e changed i„,o s.ones. a,e stars ; ,he s.v.n are Ihe plan Js ,ha ,tT ' 
find .deas „h.ch „fer back ,„ o„e ,0«. And .hen >he Oriental orWn of ^e 



CHAPTER X 



THE BIBI.ICAL RECORD OK THE DELUGE 



1. On account of the 

wickediiess of man- 
kind, God deter- 
mined to destroy 
man and beast 

2. Only Noah is to be 

spaved 

3. Communication to 

Noah 

4. Command to build 

the Ark and meas- 
uvenients given 

5. Inhabitants of the 

Ark 
(«) Men 

(b) Beasts 



(c) Provisions 

6. The command of 

God is carried out 

7. Yahveh closes the 

door 

8. Beginn ing of the 

Deluge 



Yahvist. 



Gen. vi. 5-7 



Priestly Document. 

Gen. vi. 11-13 



„ vi. 8 ; comp. 1 „ vi. 9 
vii. 6 ! 



„ vii. 4 



„ vi. 13, 17 



(„ vii. 1 — the „ vi. 14-16 

Ark is already in ex- 
istence^) i 



Gen. vii. 1 „ vi, 18 

(Noah and hishouse) (Noah himself) 

Gen. vii. 2-3 Gen. vi. 19, 20 

(Of clean beasts and (Onepairofeach kind) 
of birds, seven pairs of 



each ; of theunclean, 
one pair of each) 

Gen. vii. 5, 7-9 
„ vii. 16'' 
„ vii. 4 

(40 days' rain) 



Gen. vi. 21 
„ vi. 22; vii. 
13, 16 



„ vii. 11 

(Water poured from 
ihe great Tehoai and 
from heaven) 



1 In the sources from which the editor of this Yahvist account drew, no doubt 
the command to build was also related. The chronicler has cleverly combined 
the sources, taking what is characteristic from each. Budde, in Die biblische 
Urgeschichte, 24S ff., was the first to attempt to re-establish the sources. 

■260 



THE DELUGE 



261 



Vahvist. 



Pricstly Documc-nt. 



9. The inundation 
10. The duration 



1 1 . End of the Belüge 



12. üestruction bv the 
Hood 

13. Rest Lipon one of 
the mountains of 
Ararat 

14. Sending out of the 

bird^^ 
] 5. Noah and bis faniily 
leave the ark 

16. Noah öfters sacrifice 

17. Resolution of God 

to destrov no more 
by Hood 

1 8. Blessing the rescued 

19. Establishment of 

the bow as cove- 
nant 



Gen. vii. 17 ] Gen. vii. 18-20 

(All Iheearth flooded) , (Water 15 cubitsabuve 
the highest mountains) 

Gen. vii. 4, 12, 17 j Gen. vii. 24; viii. 
and viii. 6-12 \ 1-3, 5, 14 

(40 and lo (?) days ^) I (The waters increase 

I for 150 days ; the 

I Deluge lasts alto- 

I gether 365 days) 

Gen. viii.2''-3%13'' ' Gen. viii. 1-2% 3^^- 
5, 13% 14 
„ vii. 22, 23 Gen. vii. 21 



„ viii. 6-12 



viii. 4 



„ viii. 15-19 



„ viii. 20 

„ viii. 21, 22 „ ix. 8-11 



ix. 1-7 
ix. 12-17 



1. In Gen. iv. it appears bow wickedness has gained the 
Upper band. Also in the 6th chapter, 7 ff., the " fall of the 
angels,'' who were of the generation of the giants, describes the 
deterioration. Gen. vi. 3 indicates that Yahveh had con- 
sidered other punishments (shortening the length of life to 
120 years) before proceeding to the utterniost. Thus the 
Deluge is connected with the stories of the Patriarchs.- 

In the same way the Bal)ylonian tradition connects the 

' P. 267, n. 2. 

'^ The killing of animals seems to be a sin according to the words of God at the 
conclusion of the Fiood. We accept the interesting hypothesis of Winckler (i^ , iii. 
396 f.) that the judgmeat also refers to the animal world (the end of all ßesh is 
come), and find the fall of the animals in Gen. vi. 13, "behold, they ruin the 
(/. hiniie-näm mashitiin) earth." Compare with this p. 268, and compare Jubil. v. 
2, "They all (the animals also) erred in iheir \\3.ys a.nd bcgan to devonr eack olher." 



262 THE BIBLICAL RECORD OF THE DEEUGE 

Deluge with the primeval kings. Certainly the history of the 
Flood worked into the epic of Gilgamesh says nothing about 
this ; the poem has made a very free use of the material. 
But it may be concluded from Berossus that the connection 
existed in Babylonia. Xisuthros is the last of the primeval 
kings, and his connection with the sages of the primeval age 
is established bv the fact that, according to Berossus, Xisuthros 
buried writings in Sippar ^ before the Deluge, which were then 
dug up by the relations of the Babylon ian Noah and spread 
abroad amongst men. 

The Deluge appears as culmination of a succession of punish- 
ments in the group of Babylonian myth-poems mentioned p. 
253. An epic fragment, probably having its source in Sippar, 
the writings on which belong to the period of Ammizaduga,^ 
one of the kings of the Hamrnurabi dvnasty, and in which the 
hero of the Deluge, Atrahasis, is called " Chief in prudence," 
proclaims that other punishments preceded the Deluge, and 
that men again feil away. H. Zimmern has rightly brought 
another text, which is a transcription out of the library of 
Assurbanipal, and where also Atarhasis^ is the hero, into 
connection with this. In this one, as in the other, Atarhasis 
converses with his Lord, i.e. Ea. He repeatedly speaks about 
the miseries which the punishments have brought upon man- 
kind (first six years of famine, drought, unfruitfulness, then 
fever and ague, and then again sterility), and calls to remem- 

^ P. 246. The connection with Sippar gives on the one hand a play of words 
on shipru {sepher), " book," and on the other a yet unknown relation to religious 
history, which should be sought for in the cultural meaning of the sun-city Sippar. 
The Jewish fable also has the like burying of the Tables. In the Slav, God by two 
angels permits Enoch to bury the writings of Adam and of Seth, so that they 
shall not be destroyed in the Deluge. Similarly, in the Viia Adam et Eva, 49 f. 
(Kautzsch, Pseiidepigr., 506 ff.). In a Persian story of the Deluge in Albiruni, 
Chronology (Sachan's translation, p. 28), Tahmurath hides all books of science 
before the Flood ; see Boeklen, loc. cit., p. 35. 

- The stories of Ea and of Atrahasis perhaps represent a literary mixlure of the 
materials of two myths. The Deluge story belongs to Babylonia proper (the 
scene of the inundations of the Euphrates ; Bei of Nippur, Lord of the Deluge; 
Shurippak, the dwelling-place of the Babylonian Noah : Sippar, according to 
Berossus, the place where the sacred books were preserved ; Babylon, the city to 
which the rescued then returned), whilst the Ea-Atrahasis myih belongs to Eridu. 

^ .\tarhasis is a variant of the name Atrahasi.«:. 



THE DELUGE 263 

brancfe that meu were jet made by the gods. The relationship 
of this tale with the before-mentioned fragment leads to the 
undoubted conclusion that here also the judgments for sins 
which were ordained by Inlil in the counsel of the gods 
" because (sins) were not taken awav, but increased from of 
old," ended in the Dekige. The connection of the Flood with 
other previous judgments, which have vanished out of Genesis, is 
therefore plainly to be found in the Babylonian cycle of myths. 

2. Gen. vi. 9 : "iVort/i loas a righteous and perfcct vian in his 
ways} Xoah icalked iclth God^ The Babylonian story sets 
forth (line 182 ff'.) that Ut-napishtim was saved because of his 
piety. /n the same way Berossus sets forth that Kronos ap- 
peared to Xisuthros in a dream because he was God-fearing. 
He relates in the end that Xisuthros was taken away, and a 
voice (Xisuthros'.'') spoke from the air to those saved, com- 
manding them - that thev should continue to fear God, as was 
fitting ; see p. 246. Noah " walked with God," like Enoch, 
Gen. V. 24; see p. 240. The rescue of Noah ( = Babylonian 
Ut-napishtim-Xisuthros) corresponds to the translation of 
Enoch ( = Enmeduranki). Should there be a tradition accorrf- 
mg to zchich the Blhlical Noah also (he lived, according to 
Gen. ix. 28, for 350 years after the Deluge) xcas trans- 
lafed? The expression of the Yahvist, Gen. vi. 8, "he found 
grace with Yahveh,'" is specifically Israelite. 

3. In the Babylonian records and in Berossus the revelation 
is niade in a dream. Also in Gen, vi. 13 it may mean a 
dream. Apocryphal poenis of a later Jewish period drew 
pictures of the intercourse of God with Noah. 

4. Gen. vi. 14 flp. The measurements in the Babylonian 
records are at variance. But, as in the Bible, the ark is divided 
into stories, line 63. The six stories of line 61 may agree 
with the Biblical account of thirty cubits high. 

In the description of the ark, Gen. vi. 14-16, the text is 
not in right order. This explains the exegetical difficulties. By 
a simple transposition of the words Winckler has given, according 
to our view, the true sense : — 

^ To be read lo-n ; see Winckler, F., iii. 396. 

- On the voice al the Ascension, comp, also Rev. xi. 12. 



264 THE BIBLICAL RECORD OF THE DELUGE 

Make thee an ark of gop/ier-irood, and pitch it ivithiv and irit/iout 
with pitch. And this is how thou shalt make it : The Icngth of the ark 
three hundred cuhits, the breadth of it ^fifty cidnts, and the height of it 
thirty cubits ; io a cuhit iha/t tliou Ji'nish it.^ A roof xhalt thou make to 
the ark above, and a door shalt thou sei in the side thereof. In stories - 
shalt thou build the ark, nith lo)ver, second, and third stories shalt thou 
build it. 

The new Hilprecht fraguieut from Nippiir, referred to p. 252, 
should be considered in connection with the conmiand to build 
the ark ; the reJationship to the Biblical story, Gen. vi. 13-20, 
vii. 5-11, is striking. 

In the Babylonian story Ut-napishtim is mocked bj the 
people for building the ark. This feature is also found in 
the Koran, Sura 11, and in the story of the rescue of Lot from 
the deluge of fire, Gen. xix. 14. Also the extra-Biblical Jewish 
traditions teil how Noah was mocked, as is .shown by the 
Talmud Tractate Sanhedrim 323, fol. 108^^. In this the 
people ask Noah whether a deluge of water or of fire is 
to come. 

5. In the Bible (Gen. vi. 18) the number rescued from 
amongst mankind is limited to Noah's family — most likely 
in the interests of the unity of the human race, which should 
descend from one, as antediluvian mankind did from Adam. In 
the Babylonian record Ut-napishtim is translated, and mankind 
is descended from the others who were rescued, amongst whom 
were a steward and a skilled artisan.-^ The Yahvist gives pre- 
ference to the clean bea.sts, Gen. vii. 2 f. The division 
between clean and unclean beasts is common to the whole 
East, especially in the case of sacrifice (comp. Gen. viii. 20). 
The Babylonian Noah took all his possessions in with him, 
especially gold and silver ; the provisions in P have been 
contracted to eatables. 

7. Ut-naj)i.shtim closes the door. The Bible (Yahvist) 

1 Similarly in the Assyrian measuiements, for exaiiiple, A'A'.V zna ishten 
aiiimaf, thirty to one cubit (measured by a cubit) (Wincklei). 

^ jp, "dwelling-place." The ark corresponds to the terrestrial and celestial 
universe divided into three ; see p. 8. 

■' They were counted after the animals ; they are part of property, as it is with 
the presents given by Pharaoh to Abraham, Gen. xii. i6 : sheep and oxen, and 
he-asses, and men-servants and maid-servants. 



THE DELUGE ^65 

emphasises, Gen. vii. 16, the care of God : Yahveh shut 
the door.^ 

8. This descriptioii of the l^feaking out of the Deluge diff'er« 
essentially from the otherwiwe poetic and wonderful Babylonian 
record, which presents the natural phenomena niythologically 
as gods : together with Adad, god of storm and tenipest, the 
four planet-gods work, Nebo, Marduk, Nergal, and Ninib ; and 
the Anunnaki, who belong to the Underworld, hght the scene 
with their torches. The source utilised in the Priestly 
Document also described the breaking out of the Deluge 
poetically in it.s way. V. 116 is one verse (Gunkel, 131 f.), 
and names the great Tehom (the ocean is meant, but the 
poetic expression recalls Prinieval Chaos) as one of the sources 
of the Deluge. 

9. The Babylonian Deluge includes the whole created uni- 
verse, even to the hea\en of Anu. In the form in which we 
have it, the Biblical record only refers to the earth. But there 
are traces to be found that its transcriber had in mind the 
flooding of the whole cosmus. The slow sinking of the waters, 
Gen. viii. 3-5, is brought about by the ruah, who in Gen. i. 
broods over Tehom of the deep. The resting-place (manoah) 
from whence the dove takes the olive leaf is, in point of fact, 
the summit of the Mountain of the World; see p. 271, and 
comp. p. %56. 

10. Für the sun number 365 in P, see p. 239, n. 8. 
The numbers with the Yahvist are 40 and 3x7. 40 is the 
number of the Pleiades, and indicates rain and winter-time ; see 
p. 68. Winckler, F., iii. 96, counts besides, instead of the 3x7 
of the " ancient sources," 2x7; that would be 2 x 7 + 40 = 54 
days, the time of a sidereal double month, that is, as long as 
the sun is in one of the six divisions of the heavens. The 2x7 
would then correspond to the Babylonian duration of the 
Deluge ; the flood lasts seven days, and seven days it recedes. 

12. The moving lament over the destruction by the Deluge 
(Babylonian record, line 133 ff.) is omitted in the Bible. 

13. The waters sink. The length of time points to the 

1 Ol' is Yahveh to be taken as a gloss, as Klosterniann thinks, PciUateucli, p. 40, 
so that here also Noah shuts the door? 



^66 THE BIBLICAL RECORD OF THE DELUGE 

original nieaning being the Mountain of the World ; see p. 271. 
The cause of tlie shcümk, the stilling (not sinking) of the waters, 
is the ruali^ that is, the same Spirit which in Gen. i. 3 " was 
brooding upon "' ^ the face of the waters. In the Bible P 
says, ^^ lipon oiie qf the summits qf Ararat.'''' The scene of the 
story of Noah (the neighbourhood of Urartu in Armenia) is 
therefore approximately the same as that given by the Baby- 
lonian chronicler. The Yahvist also means the same neigh- 
bourhood ; comp. Gen. xi. 2. The Babylonian record gives the 
name of the highest peak of the mountains — Nisir. In the 
present day the peak Gudi, in the neighbourhood of Ararat, is 
held to be the mountain of the Deluge. The ark rested there 
seven davs, as in the Babylonian record. 

14. According to Gen. viii. 6, it almost seems as though 
there had been a source which only teils of the raveii. The 
sending out of the raven disturbs the coherence.^ " Flew to 
and fro " possibly means : it went repeatedly out and came 
repeatedly back until the waters were dried up, then the ra^'en 
stayed out. This would coincide with the role of the raven in 
the cuneiform record, line 154 f. There remain, then, three 
despatches of birds. 

The chronicler of the Babylonian record gives the order : 
dove, swallow, raven. The Biblical chronicler has the more 
significant : raven, swallow (the first dove has taken the place 
of this), dove. The climax is reached with the bringing of the 
olive leaf. The renewed sending out of the dove, which does 
not return, Gen. viii. 12. disturbs the sense. As a domesticated 
bird, the dove would come back in any case. Neither the 
Biblical nor the Babylonian chronicler has any longer under- 
stood the cosmic motif in the recension before us. The dove ^ 
brings the olive leaf from the Tree of Life which stands upon 
the summit of the Mountain of the World, near the Tree of 
Death, the Tree of Knowledge ; see p. 271, comp. p. 208 ff. 

^ Winckler, F., iii. 399. In a mythologised story theie came a messenger from 
God. 

- Wellhausen, Koinpositio)i, p. 15 ; comp. Winckler, F.^ iii. 95 f. 

^ Gunkel therefore is right when, in his Genesis, 60, he looks for traces of 
mythology in the dove. According to Plutarch, de sol. aniin., 13, the dove is also 
to be found in the myth of Deucalion. 



THE END OF THE DELUGE 267 

If the last sendiug out of the clove is done away with, it also does 
away witli the second seven days in the time reckoning. The Deliige 
lasts forty days (Pleiades number, time of want and during which 
no Claim can be made to a relief fund ; see p. 68). According to the 
Oriental calendar symbolism, \ve should noAv expect a term of three 
Ol- ten days ' to bring deliverance. Winckler, F., iii. 401, reckons the 
ten days thiis : the raven is sent out on the forty-first day (viii. 7). It 
does not come back. Then foUows the sending out ofthe swallow 
(dove). since the raven brings no message. It would certainly be 
done very soon — in the evening or the next morning, in any case on 
the following, therefore on the forty-second day. Now Noah waits 
seven days (Gen. viii. 10, "yet other" seven days; according to 
what we have said above, "yet other" is done away with). On 
the forty-ninth day he sends out the dove ; on the fiftieth day she 
brings the olive leaf.- 

16. Berossus : Xisuthros kissed the earth, built an altar, 
and offered to the gods.' More in detail in the cuneiform 
record : " The gods smelled the savour, the gods smelled the 
fragrance, they gathered themselves together like flies round 
the sacrifice." The Yahvist says (Gen. viii. 21): " Yahveh 
smelled the sweet savour." That this is here simply a ligure 
of speech, meaning " God was well pleased," is shown by Anios 
V. 21 ; Lev. xxvi. 31. In more drastic form, 1 Sam. xxvi. 19 f. 
(David speaks to Saul) : " If it be Yahveh that hath stirred 
thee up against me, let him accept an ofFering of fragrance to 
smell." Ezek. viii. 17 says of the heathen cult in Jerusalem : 
" Surelj they let the stink [of their offering] rise to my nose." 
Equally by this presentment of the sacrifice the "sweet savour 
of Christ" is explained, 2 Cor. ii. 15; comp. Phil. iv. 18. 

^ The ten days is the motif in fixing the j'o/u kippor as the day of liberation on 
the tenth day after New Year, which is held as judgment time ; see B.N. T., 70 f. 
Further, Rev. ii. 10. 

'" The fifty here has the same calendar signitication as the fifty between Passover 
and Whitsuntide, and which, on the ground of events in the life of Jesus, also 
divide the Christian festival of Easter and Whitsuntide. The division into 40 
(Ascension)+ IG is perhaps brought into the right position on account of the 
calendar motif. The Ascension in reality did not fall upon the 40th, bat upon the 
42nd day, therefore upon a Sabbath, which is perhaps what the " sabbath day's 
journey," Acts i. 12, indicates. Jesus appeared for the first time to his disciples at 
Easter evening, therefore at the beginning of the day following the resurrection, 
Luke xxiv. 29, 36 ; then "he let himself be seen for forty days," Acts i. 3 ; the 
farewell would therefore fall upon the 42nd day, therefore upon one Saturday 
before Exaudi (see Lichtenstein in Saat auf Hoffnung, 1906, pp. 118 ff.). 

■' Compare also the Indian fable, pp. 256 f. 



268 THE BIBLICAL RECORD OF THE DELUGE 

Rabbinical theology speaks of three odours pleasing to God 
(the odour of sacrifice, of prayer, and of virtuous acts, the last 
beiiig the most acceptable), Yalkut Rubeni, SOb. Another 
poetic figure of speech of the " savour " is given by the present- 
ment of the plant of life, which is smelled ; see p. 215. 
And even if it were to be understood in an anthroponiorphic 
sense (in the same sense as the repentance and grief of God in 
Gen. vi. 6), how far removed even that would be froni the 
satirical description in the BaVjylonian story ! 

17. With the decision of God in the Yahvist compare the 
Babylonian record, line 180 ff. The words of Gen. viii. 22, 
piNH ■'D"'"7D "TI7, have been translated, reading it as ^od : " hence- 
forth, all the days of the earth .... shall not cease.'' The 
grannnatical sequence requires the reading '■ad, "tili" (Septua- 
gint) : Trda-a'i ra? ''jjuepa? rtj? yij'i. " Till all ^ the days of the 
earth [are finished], seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, 
summer and winter, day and night shall not cease." That 
corresponds to the System of the Ages of the World. ^Vhen the 
days of the earth are finished, the fire-ßood will come ; comp. 
2 Pet. iii. 7, " the former \\ orld was destroyed by a water flood 
.... but the present heaven and earth are set apart for fire."" 

18. With this blessing of the rescued compare the Baby- 
lonian record, line 200 ff. In Gen. ix. 2 animals are permitted 
for food, as, tili then, were vegetables. Slaying and killing is 
allowed. The animals were included in the fall and in the 
judgment of the Deluge ; see p. 261, n. 2. Now begins what St 
Paul, in Rom. viii. 19 ff., calls the "groaning of all creation," 
which in like manner awaits redemption. Onlv the eating of 
flesh with blood in it is forbidden, Gen. ix. 4 (P). For such 
blood of the beast God will bring man into judgment. The 
meanincr of Gen. ix. 5 is : God will avent^e the blood of man 
upon every living thing (the beast also which kills man, pays 
the death penalty). If a man kills a man, God requires yet 
more ; he requires of the murderer the life (the soul, nephesh) 
of his brother.^ Gen. ix. 6 adds to this a command, and 

1 Winckler corrects to ni^D i>'. 

^ The disentanglement of the text which proves this meaning is given by 
Winckler, F., iii. 402 f. 



THE BOW AS SYMBOL 269 

a theological foundation for it : man, niade in the iniage of 
God, Stands higher than the beast. 

19. The bow, which was naturally also ah-eady obvious to 
the mind of the Bibhcal chronicler, is to be the sign of remem- 
brance for mankind. Gen. ix. 16 : " And the bow shall be in 
the cloud, and thou shalt see it to remember ^ the covenant." 
We find a sign given at Babylonian investitures. Compare, for 
example, the giving of symbols in the investiture documents of 
Merodach-Baladan ; see fig. 189, p. 281, ii. (fruit .^ In German 
law an ear of corn is given). 

What is the meaninsj of the bow? Wellhausen, Prolesomena, 3rd 
ed.j 327, concludes from the word qcshd (otherwise, bow to shoot with) 
that the weapon of war is synibolised by it, which the arrow-shooting 
god lays aside as sign of bis wrath j)ut away. The Arabs also take 
the vainbow to be the weapon of God : Guzah shoots arrows from 
his bow and then hangs it in the clouds. In India the rainbow is 
called liidrai/iid/ut, " the weapon of Indra/' as being the bow from 
which he hurls lightning arrows against the rebellious Asurs. 

The following may be added as Babylonian material : — 

1. In the Babylonian record of the Deluge, l64 ff., Ishtar raises 
an object called Nim, which Ann had made by her wish, and swears 
she will remember this day to the furthest future. 

2. The Babylonian epic of creation (Table V. }') speaks of the 
placing in the heavens of the weapon with which Marduk has 
conquered Tiamat : ^ 

The net that lie had made, the gods [his fathers] saw, 

they saw the bow, that it [was made] ingeniously, 

and the work that he had ended, they praised .... 

Anu arose in the assembly of the gods .... 

he praised {}) the bow : "it is . . . ." 

[The names] of the bow he called as foUows : 

"Longwood" is the one, the other . . . ., 

its third name '•' Bowstar in the heavens . . . ." 

he made firm its place (?).... 

According to that, the "bow," qeslict, has nothing to do with the 
rainbow. Qeshet is a weapon ; and the bow to shoot with, which is 
thin at the ends, does not really answer to the rainbow. Since the 
bow is in the heavens, we must look for an astral motif. And the 
crescent of the nciv n/oon does, in fact, coincide admirably. Boeklen, 

^ To be read thus niiTNi, in agreement with Winckler. Josephus seems to have 
already read it thus. Aiii., i. 3, S : " The bow shall serve thee as a token of my 
mercy." God does not require the reminder. 

- K.T., xii. 3. 



270 THE BIBLICAL RECORD OF THE DELUGE 

I.e., 123 ft". has made the ex])lanation very probable, ßesides this, 
in Isa. xxvii. 1 (p. 195) the new moon, which proclaims the victovy 
over the power of darkness, appears as the sickle-sword in the 
hand of Yahveh.^ The bow of the new moon^ which was hailed 
with joy (Hilal !), is the sign of remembrance of the covenant of 
God Avith Noah. 

But tlie tradition wliich makes the bow the rainhow may also be 
proved correct. The original meaning may refer to a divine 
weapon, but certainly already the editor of the text in question 
was thinking of the rainbow. Also the late Jewish interjn-etation 
sees in the rainbow the divine comforter. Curiously, it appears 
thus in the Slav legends of the Deluge (Harnisch, Slawische 
Märchen, p. 234) : — The Lord of the Universe saw from the window 
of heaven war and murder upon earth. So he let the earth be 
destroyed for twenty days and nights by water and wind. Only 
one old pair remained alive. To them he sent the rainbow as 
comforter (Liuxmine), which advised them to spring over the 
earth's bones (stones). Thus arose new pairs of mankind^ the 
primeval ancestors of the Lithuanian tribes. 

Did the rainbow pass besides for the celestial bridge } We found 
this celestial bridge in the Japanese cosmology, p. l67. In the 
Edda, Heimdal guards the mythical bridge by which the Asa 
ascend to heaven, and which will be broken at the Twilight of the 
gods. And in the German ftibles souls are conducted to heaven 
over the rainbow. 

That these bridges are of Oriental origin is shown by the 
conception of them as stairs (naturally with the seven-coloured 
Steps). The rainbow with its seven colours " corresponds to " 
(comp. pp. 8 f.) the zodiac with the same seven planet colours, by 
the Steps of which the astral gods ascend to the heaven of Anu ; 
see pp. 15 f. 

The Cosmic and Astral Motifs of thf. Story of 

THE DeLTIGE 

The Biblical chronicler clearly accepts the Deluge as corre- 
sponding to sonie historical event of primeval ages — an 
" event, the most ancient and the most tremendous which has 
ever happened to man." ^ Also the Babylonian tradition, with 
its distinction between kings before or after the Flood (pp. 71, 
238), seems to have an historical event in view. The Babylonian 

^ Rev. xiv. 14 ff., it becomes the sickle of the harvest of judgment. 

'■^ Riem, DieSinßut: Eine ethnographiscli-iiaturwisseiischafllichc Uiitersuchtt7ig, 
Stuttgart, Kielmann, 1906. The fact cannot be established by means of historical 
cnticism. In the critical examination of the Biblical story other issues will 
determine the decision for or against ; see pp. So f. 



COSMIC AND ASTRAL MOTIFS 271 

Deluge storv borrows its imagery froni natural events whicli 
may be observed from time to time in the storniv floods in the 
plains of the Euphrates.^ 

But the presentment gives an echo of cosmic and astral 
motifs. The Teaching of the Ages of the Universe reckons 
with a deluge and with a fire-flood in the course of the 
Kons, which will include the whole cosmos. When the 
precession of the spring point passes through the water region 
of the zodiac the deluge happens ; when the precession passes 
through the fire region of the zodiac the fire-flood happens ; 
see pp. 70 f ^ 

The Bahyloman record refers to the cosmic flood. The 
gods flee to the heaven of Anu, line 115, and cower under 
the Icamäti of that heaven. Therefore the tubugatK the heavens 
of the seven planets, are overflowed. Ut-napishtini is called 
hasisatra like Adapa ( = Marduk as hero ; see p. 107) ; he is the 
" new Adapa," the Bringer of the New Age. 

But the Biblkal chronicler also is aware of the cosmic flood. 
He lets echoes from the nature-myth and the Teaching of the 
Ages of the Universe sound in his story ; together they form 
the " scientific " background to his record of the Deluge (see 
pp. 80, 175). ^Ve may indicate the following points : 

1. The inclusion iji the Ages ; see pp. 26 J f and 267 f. Noah 
is one of the Bearers of revelation who inaugurate the Ao-es.^ 

2. The "ehest,'' Hebrew tehah. The same word designates 
the basket in which Moses was exposed. This ehest is in- 
evitable in the myth of the New Age. ^J^he Bringer of the 
New Age is always rescued in a ehest ; see Exod. ii.* 

3. The resting-place of the dove, Gen. viii. 9, Manoah, 
lipon which the olive tree grows, is the summit of the Mountain 

1 The mode of expression used by the historical documents, which announce an 
annihilating destruction " like a flood " [abi'tbn) falling upon the enemy, no doubt 
also refers to such cyclones. 

■' The Biblical conception protests against the iron fate of the teaching of the 
aeons. There shall be no return of the Deluge, Gen. ix. 15 ; comp. Isa? liv. 9 : 
" I have sworn that the waters of Noah should go no more over the earth." But 
comp. 2 Pet. iii. 6 f.. p. 268, above, and B.N.T , 116. 

^ See Gunkel, Genesis, p. 130. Further, see point 4, p. 272. 

^Compare also B.N.T. , p. 9 f., 30 ff. Egyptian : the ship of Isis and 



Osiris. 



272 THE BIBLICAL RECORD OF THE DELUGE 

of the Worlri.i The slow siuking of the waters, viii. 3''-o, shows 
it was talking of a gigantic height. 

4. Noah is endowed with the motifs of the Bringer of the 
New AtJ-e. This is shown in the nanie and in the motive in 
giving the name, Gen. v. 29, which correspond to the 
motifs 2 of the Expectation of the Redeemer ; see p. 130. 
For this reason the discovery of wine by Noah is emphasised, 
the vine being the symbol of the New Age.-'^ 

5. The Deluge corresponds to the great deep, to Tehom, in 
the earher ^eon (comp. Gen. vii. 11 : the fountains of the 
great deep were broken up ; see p. 265, and conipare the ruah 
who causes the sinking, p. 265). After the Deluge a new 
World is built. Perhaps a faint hint of the new creation lies 
in the words of Gen. viii. 22 and ix. 1 fF. 

6. The late Jewish conception places the Deluge together 
with the fire-flood. The passage betöre referred to in the 
Sanhedrin says that the people asked Noah whether the water 
or fire-flood would come. According to 4 Ezra vii., the " path 
of the present aeon" lies " between fire and water." "^ The 
Christian Sibyll, vii. 9 (Hennecke, Neid. Jpoh:, p. 323) says : 
''The earth shall be ilooded, the mountains shall be flooded, 
the air also shall be flooded. All shall be water, by water 
shall all come to destruction. Then the winds shall be calmed 
and there shall arise a new age." Line 25 ff. : " God, who 
will work by many stars, .... will measure {?) a column 

1 Comp. p. 265, and see Winckler, F., iii. 68. Play of words on the redeemer 
motif nu ; see n. 2. 

2 Play of words on the motif nu and anj. Compare p. 132, the consolation 
in the Attis cult ; compare also p. 130 with Gen. iii. 17. 

^ "Vine and fig tree" = rulership of the world, Overworld and Underworld ; 
seep. 209and ^.iV.T"., 33. Myth of Dionysus, Bacchus. The New Year motif of 
drunkenness belongs to this. The drunken Lot after the fire-flood corresponds to 
the drunken Noah. A further motif is generation. The motif is iravestied. The 
behaviour of Ham corresponds to the behaviour of the daughters of Lot. 

* Kautzsch, Pseudepigr., 36S. Not water and fire ! and that is correct. The 
precession (Gemini-Taurus-Aries-Pisces) moves towards the water region and 
comes from the fire region. The incongruity in the Babylonian reckoning agrees 
with the reversal Marduk = Nebo. The passages in the Sanhedrin speak of " hot 
water" like the Deluge in the Koran, mixing therefore water and fire-flood. The 
Kabbalists (Valkut Rubeni, 32^) know the fire-flood which is to follow the water- 
fiood ; see p. 303. 



COSMIC AND ASTRAL MOTIFS 27S 

of mighty fire, tlie sparks from which shall destroy the genera- 
tions of man, which have done evil/' And in the Vita Adam 
et Eva (Kautzsch, Pseiidepigr.^ 506 ff.) it is said that God will 
twice bring wrathful judgment lipon man, first with water, 
then with fire. 

7. Noah'.s cLiltivation of the vine, and drnnkenness, are motifs 
of the nevv age. In the fire-flood story of Sodom and Gomorrha, 
Lot's drunkenness corresponds. The sexual stories, which indi- 
cate the new life (Harn, Lot's daughters), belong to this class 
of motif. 

The modern interpretations of the story of the Deluge as 
a solar mvth (Usener), or a lunar myth (Boeklen),^ are to 
be corrected according to this. To find a Solution in myths 
is, in my opinion, going too far ; so are also the interpretations 
by Stucken and by Winckler, who see in the Deluge only a 
'' celestial occurrence." Since it is dealing with cosmic motifs, 
solar as well as lunar motifs are to be expected. The cycles 
of the sun and of the moon correspond to the cycle of the 
agons. In the duration of the Deluge, 365 days in P, and 
in the numbers 40 and 10 (see p. 267) in the Yahvist, lie 
solar motifs (p. '^^5)r- 

Conduding Words on the Deluge 

The storv in both the Biblical recensions shows a relationship 
to the Babylonian tradition, and certainly by far a closer re- 
lationship than does the story of creation. In the same way, 
here also one must be careful of the acceptance of the idea of 
a borrowed literature. The material has travelled. Inspection 
of the Babylonian cuneiform tables would not thenbeneeded by 
a Biblical chronicler ; besides which, he would have rejected a 
literary dependence upon religious grounds.^ 

In any case, here also the religious value does not lie in 

1 Usener, SintfliUsngen : Boeklen in the Archiv für Relig. Wiss., vi. i ancl 2. 

- Boeklen has shown numerous lunar motifs. 

■• Gunkel judges likewise in Genesis, 67 f., only that he credits ancient Israel 
with too little civilisation of its own. He holds that they adopted the primeval 
myths " when they became incorporated in the Canaanite civilisation." But zue 
htow of ito wuivilised tinte of Israel. See p. 314. 

VOL. I. 18 



274 THE BIBLICAL RECORD OF THE DELUGE 

what is common to the Bible and to Babylon, but in that 
wherein they differ. 

In place of the mvthological world of gods, who deceive and 
outwit each other, and capriciously abuse mankind ; who appear 
in childish fvight of the ilood, and then again reappear in 
greedy curiosity at the sacrifice of Noah, \ve find in the Bible 
the wrathful God who judges the world, and who has mercy 
upon the righteous. The Biblical story of the Deluge possesses 
an intrinsic power, even to the present day, to awaken the 
conscience of the world, and the Biblical chronicler wrote it 
with this educational and moral end in view. Of this end there 
is no trace in the extra-Biblical records of the Deluo-e. 



CHAPTER XI 



THE NATIONS 



Genesis, lOth chapter, mirrors in its fundamental basis the 
geographica! and ethnological picture of the woiid as it pre- 
sented itself to the Israelites in the eighth centmy b.c. It has 
been considered an " inipossible task to reconstruct a map of the 
woiid according to the statements of the tables of the nations "" 
(Socin, in Guthe's Bibehoörterbuch). We hope to be able to set 
aside this prejudice, and to show that the Bibhcal writers were 
well informed in the political geography of their time. The 
tables of nations from P sources, 10. 1% 2-7, 20, 22-23, 31-32, 
correspönd, like the relation of the districts of the countiy, 
drawn from other sources, 10. 15-18''^, to the state of political 
geography in the eighth Century b.c. 

Dillmann, Genesis (see p. 165), thinks that the Israelites had 
close relations with only a very few of the nations placed to- 
gether in Gen. x. This is due to the point of view that Canaan 
was a land relatively rauch cut ofF from tribal intercourse. The 
monuments of the Near East have disclosed to us that the states 
of the Mediterranean stood in active communication with each 
other and with the surrounding world.^ 

A map (No. I.), most kindly drawn, from the following reading 
of Gen. X., by Oberst, a D. ßillerbeck, will make the review easier. 

Gen. X. 2 : " The sons of Japlieth 7cere : Gomej; and Magog, 
and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Mesech, and Tiras.'''' 

Go:mer. — That is, the Cimmerians, as in Ezek. xxxviii. 6, where 

' Wellhausen says in Israelitische und jüdische Geschichte, 1901 {thirteen years 
after the discovcry of the Atnania Letters') : "Till then ^about 750] there existed 
in Palestine and Syria a number of small tribes and kingdoms bickering and 
quarrelling amongst themselves, with no wider outlook than their nearest 
neighbours, and unconcerned with the outer vvorld, each revolving on its own 
axis " 

275 



276 THE NATIONS 

thev are also named to^ether with the house of Toffarmah — the 
Gamir or Gimir?-ai of the Assyrian inscriptions. They belong 
to the Indo-Gemianic tribes (Medes, Ashkuza, Cimmerians), who 
in the Assyrian inscriptions are often named by the collective 
neun Manda, and whom Herodotus calls Scythians. Homer, in 
the Odyssey^ xi. 14, looks for the Cimmerians in Northern 
Europa. In Assyrian territories they appeared first in the time 
of Sargon. They then overthrew the kingdom of Uradhu ^ and 
settled themselves there.^ The letters to his father written by 
the young Sennacherib during the time of his supreme command 
of the northern provinces on the borders of Uradhu. and the 
letters from one of his generals, teil of these wars ; further, the 
questions addressed to the Oracle of the Sun-god in the time of 
Esarhaddon. Upon pressure by Esarhaddon, they were driven 
away from the Assyrian border by the Ashkuza, who were in 
alliance with Assyria, and pressed towards the west. The 
Asianic tradition which records this is confirmed by statements 
of Assurbanipal, In Asia Minor they overthrew the Txingdom 
of the Fhrygians under Midas, likewise of Lydia, under Gyges. 
Gradually they were overpowered by the newly reinforced 
civilised people of Asia Minor. 

Poets of Asia Minor have sung of the horrors of this time. For 
a while the Cimmerian ascendancy was so streng that the greater 
part of Asia Minor was called Gomer Also the wars in Uradhu 
have left their traces. The Crims (of the Cimmerian Bosphorus) 
owe their name to the Gimirrai, and the Armenians call Cappadocia. 
the scene of the above-mentioned battles between the Ashkuza 
and the Gimirrai^ Gamir. -^ Compare now, Hommel, G.G.G., 210 ff. 

1 Armenia of to-day ; the name is preserved in that of the mountain Ararat. 

- They did not therefore first break in from Europe in the beginning of the 
seventh Century, as Ed. Meyer supposes. Holzinger, in his Genesis, p. 95, holds 
firmly to that supposition, although the material of the inscriptions has in the 
meantime been brought forward. For the history of the Cimmerians, as for that 
of the Ashkuza, comp. H. Winckler, F., i. 484 ff., and Hehnolt's Weltgeschichte^ 
iii. I, p. 132. 

•* This Arnienian designation must surely be a Supplement taken from the Bible, 
from the passages in Genesis and Ezekiel. The Armenians are proud of the 
mention of their country in the Bible. Thus they have given a Christian colour 
to the Story of the sons of Sennacherib, who murdered their father and " escaped 
to the land of Ararat" (2 Kings xix. 37), and honour them as a sort of national 
heroes ; see Chalatianz, "Die armenische Heldensage," in the Z.eitschrift des 
Vereins für Volkskmide in Berlin, 1902, vol. ii. ff. 



MAGOG— MADAI 277 

Magog.— In Ezek. xxxviii. f. King Gog of the land of Alagog 
appears a,s the uncanny foe of populär expectation. That Gog 
is an old name for the barbarian of the farthest North, like 
the Cimnierians, in Homer's Odyssey, as nientioned above, is 
shown by the letter froni Nimmuria to Kadashman-ßel in the 
fifteenth Century b.c., found in Tel Amarna {K.B., v. 5). The 
writer of the letter is suspicioiis as to whether the wife being sent 
to him from afar will be a real princcss. He says :— 

Who is to know, then, whether she is not tlie daughter of 
a slave, or of an (inhabitant) of the land of Ga-ga (Ga-o-a-ai 
a Gagaean), or a daughter of the land of Hanigalbat, or who knows 
that she does not come from Ugarit, she whom mv messeno-ers 
siicceed in seeing.^ " '^ 

He falls back therefore in his suspicions from Gaga, which is 
certainly Gog, npon Hanigalbat, and from thenc^ upon the 
probably still nearer Ugarit. Gog means here also a fabulous 
land, like the land of the Scythians in the classic«. 

Madai (Assyrian, likewise Greek, ]\L'}oot or M«5oO i» the 
name of a race which from the middle of the ninth Century appears 
in Western Asia in the territory of Anzan. The Assyrians call 
them "the far Medes of the East" {Madcd ruquÜ sha sH 
sJiamshi), " the never vanquished Medes " (lä kansntiy They are 
first reckoncd amongst the Umman-Manda, that is, the collective 
noun for the people of the north-east, who somewhat correspond 
to the (eastern) " Scythians '^ of the classics, and who throng 
against Assyria and Babylonia "like locusts." What Assur- 
banipal says of the related Cimmerians applies equally to the 
Manda: " No interpreter understands their language." Their 
tribes are under the leadership of linmnäü, they dwell "like 
robbers in the desert." They are the first of the advancing 
Indo-Germanic people.- In Genesis the Madai belonging to the 
Manda are counted to Japheth. They come, like the Hittites, 
from Europe and move back again behind the Hittite 
migrations. 

The foundation of the kingdom of the Medes took place in the 
latest Assyrian period. Herodotus places it in an earlier age. 

^ Ä'.B., ii. 39, 41, 43, 55 ; comp. p. 67. 

" Herodotus, vii. 62 : " from days of old they were named "Apioi." 



278 THE NATIONS 

But in the founder of the State, Deioces, and in the chief city, 
Ecbatana in Herodotus, we have traces of historical treasure. 
Ecbatana was probably a centre of unificaition ; the name of the 
city, Bit-Daiakku, answers foi* a populär hero Daiakku. We cannot 
yet judge of his siiccessor Phraortes. We miist look upon Cyaxares 
as the tnie founder. He was the Uvakshatara of the Inscription 
of Darius at ßehistun, who appears as legitiniate representative of 
the kingdom, whilst a pretender to the throne sets aside his 
name. Cyaxares was followed by Astyages, then came Cyrus, 
founder of the kingdom of Persia. In 2 Kings xvii. 6, xviii. 11, 
IsraeHtes were deported to the mountains (Septuagint iv opot?) 
of the Medes. In Isa. xiii. 17 ff. ; Jer. xxv. 25, H. 11, 28, it appears 
as a kingdom. In the Books of Daniel, of Esther, and of Judith 
men were aware of Jews descended from these banished people. 
The First Book of Maccabees shows Media first under Syrian 
(vi. 56), then under Parthian (xiv. 2 ; comp. Josephus, Auf., xx. 3, "), 
rule. The Whitsun legends name it amongst the Diaspora lands ; 
Acts ii. 9- Further detail of the legends in the article on Nineveh 
in Hauck, R.Pr.T/i., Srd ed. 

Javan. — These are the Greeks (Greek, Jaon. Jaones, with 
Digamnia) who are here called bv the Israelites, as they were by 
the Assyriansandlaterby the Persians, by the name they bore on 
the coasts of Asia Minor. Here and at Cyprus they leariit to 
know them ; to Western Asia, Greece proper was a dini 
hinterland of very secondary consideration.^ Whether Gen. x. 
2 also includes European Greece cannot be proved owing to the 
misty nature of the geographica! ideas, nor from " the sons of 
Javan,"" v. 4. In the Assyrian inscriptions we nieet with lonians 
(Jamania, Jamnai) first under Sargon. We learn that they 
made inroads upon the Cilician coasts. Sargon says : ^ " The 
brave warrior, who in the midst of the sea caught the lonian 
with the net(?) like a fish and to Que and Tyrus brought peace.''' 
He defeated them, therefore, in a sea fight, in any case with the 
help of ships of Tyre, since Tyre itself, or much more probably 
Tyrian colonies in Cyprus, were threatened by the lonians. 
Here it is a case of lonian kings in Cyprus.^ From thence- 
forwarcl Cyprus became tributary to Assyria. Later,'^ Sargon 

' In just the same way the Greeks call Canaan and its hinterland after the 
nearest coast region : Palaestina, that is, Philistineland. 
^ J^.B., ii. 43- 

^ But Kittim, Gen. x. 4, is not Chition, contrary toSchrader, K.A.T., 2nd ed.,Sl. 
■* K.B., ii. 75. 



EXCURSUS ON LIST OF NATIONS OF DARIUS 279 

mentions in this sense seven kings of "Ja," a district of the land 
of Jatnana (which is a narae for Cjpru.s) ; Assurbanipal names 
teil such kings by iiame.^ U'lie Greeks proper, even with the 
special differentiation of those of Asia Minor and the European 
Greek — both under the narae of Jamaiiia — were named in the 
Inscriptions of Darius. 

ExCURSUS ON THE LiSTS OF NaTIONS OF DaRIUS ^ 

The tomb of Davius at Naqsh-i-Rustem i-epresents the tliirty 
nations conquered by him and counts them in the Inscription. The 




Fig. 77. — The tomb of Xerxes in Naqsh-i-Rustem. 

figures on the tomb have sufFered very much from tlie disintegration 
of the rock, and have become partially imrccognisable. Happily, 
the other Achajinenid tombs found in the same place are an exact 
copy of the tomb of Darius. Fig. 77 shows the tomb of Xerxes, 
which is the best preserved. The nations counted in the Inscrip- 
tion can be verified by the figures, so that tlie interpretation of the 
hst may be held as fully assured, and at the same time the great 

1 k\B., iL 173. 

- According to the debates at the International Congress of Orientalists, 1902, in 
Hamburg, lectuie by Professor Dr F. C. Andreas ; compare also Hommel, 
G.G.G., 199, n. 3. (See Appendi.x.) 



280 THE NATIONS 

reliability of the descriptions of the nations by Herodotus is 
proved. 

In the Inscription ou the tomb thirty nations are counted^ in 
the following grou})s : 

1. The people between the mountaiu ränge bordering the piain 
of Mesopotamia on the one side, and the ehain of the Pamir and 
the Indus on the other side : (l) Medes^ (2) Chuzians, (3) Parthians, 
(4) Areiens, (5; Bactrians, (6) Sogdianians^, (7) Chorasmians^ (8) Zar- 
angiansj (9) Arachosians, (10) Sattagydens, (11) Gandarita;, (12) 
IndianSj (13) Sacians^ (14) Haumavarken ('AfxvpyiOL of Herodotus^ 
up to now wrongly taken to be an epithet for Sacians), (15) 
pointed-hatted Sacians. 

2. The natives of South-Western Asia : (l6) Babylonians, (17) 
Assyrians. (18) Arabians, (19) Egyptians. 

3. The nations of the north of Western Asia : (20) Armenians, 
(21) Cappadocians, (22) Lydians^ (23) Greeks of Asia Minor. 

4. The nations of Europe : (24) Scythians or Scolotans of Pontiis, 
(25) Thracians, (26) the Greeks who bear the Petasos (Persian, 
Yauncä Takabarä)^ that is to say, Macedouians (possibly this desig- 
nation inchides the European Greeks). 

5. The tribes of Africa ; (A) in the south : (27; Putans, that is, 
the Bibhcal Put, Punt of the Egyptians, the Ethiopians of Hero- 
dotus ; (28) Cush, that is, the Negro races ; (B) in the west : (29) 
Maxyer, and (30) Carthagenians (these two figures stand outside the 
panoply of the throne on the right band and on the left). 

The dominating race of the Persians is naturally not to be found 
amongst the figures representing the couquered nations supporting 
the throne of Darius, it is represented by the figure of the king 
himself, as also by the six side figures, which show us the heads of 
the six races of Pärsa, standing alongside the kingis family, the 
Achsemenids. There must originally have been an inscription 
over each of these figures, noting the nanie and rank of the person ; 
only two of these are known up to the present, the remainder 
have been perhaps destroyed. By these we know that the top 
figure on the left is Gobryas, lance-bearer of Darius, and the 
under figure bearing shield and battle-axe is Aspathines, his 
shield-bearer (Persian Vursawara). From the record of a Byzantine 
historian (Petrus Patricius, fragment 14) we learn that amongst 
the Persians the king's shield-bearer was also Captain of the 
Bodyguard. 

TuBAL. — This means the Tabal of the cuneiforni Inscriptions. 
They belong to the last batch of the " Hittites,"" of whoni we 
find first the Kummukh (from whom later Commagene is named), 
then the Muski, Tabakeans and Kaski, making an inroad into 
Northern Mesopotamia under Tiglath-Pileser I. We first meet 
with Tabal as a country under Shalmaneser II. Sargon {AnnaJs^ 



TUBAL— MESECH 281 

170 ff.) gives bis daughter as wife to the kiiig Anibaridi, of 
Tabal, with Hilakki as her dower.^ Later the Tabalaeans were 
forced into Lesser Armeiiia. The Tibarenes of Herodotus 
(iii. 94, vii. 78), iiamed here together with the Mosher, that is, 
the Muski-Mesech, who dwelt in the hill country to the south- 
east of the Black Sea, were remnants of the Tabalaeans. Since 
these hill tribes were celebrated in ancient times (conipare for 
example Ezek. xxvii. 13), as they are still celebrated, for 
their brass and copper work, we may conjecture that the 
monstrous un-Hebraic form of nanie of the patriarch Tubal- 
Cain is connected with it, To the name of Cain, which siffnifies 
" smith," "instructor of every artificer in copper and iron " 
(Gen. iv. 22), they added, as a pendant to Jubal, the name of 
the celebrated copper-worker Tubal. 

Meskch. — These are the Muski of the Assvrian royal Inscrip- 
tions. They belong, like Tabal, to the batches of Hittites who 
appeared under Tiglath-Pileser I. After the Kummukh, who 
had settled themselves in Northern Mesopotamia in the territory 
of the sometime kingdom of Mitanni, had been subiugated by 
Tiglath-Pileser I., the land was threatened by the Muski, about 
1100, and behind them pressed the Tabalaeans, just spoken of 
above, and the Kaski. Later the Muski established themselves 
in Phrygia ; they aspired to enter into possessio)! of the ancient 
kingdom of Hatti. We find appearing as an Opponent of Sargon, 
Mita of Muski in the list of former kings of the Hatti. This 
Mita is Midas of Phrygia. - 

In the later prophets the same groups of nations repeatedly 
appear as in Gen. x. 2. In Ezek. xxvii. 13, Javan^ Tubal, and 
Mesech are named as traders in slaves and copper Marc. In 
Ezek. xxxii. 26 and elsewhere Mesech and Tubal are named as 
v.^arlike people. In Isa. Ixvi. 19^ according to the Septuagint^ 
Mesech, Tubal, and Javan are likewise named together. 

Ezek. xxxviii. 2 W., comp, xxxix. 1 ff, '^'Son of man, set tliy face 

^ This is, however, not Cilicia, but a part of Cappadocia, southward, on the 
Halys. 

'^ See M. Winckler, K.A.T., 3i'd ed., Ixviii. 74. Therefore also the last king of 
Kaikeniish, which province was the last remnant still left of the ancient Hittite 
glory, sought help from this conqueror of the ancient lands of the Hatti. The 
Indo-Germanic Cimmerians were overthrown by Midas. In place of Phrygia, 
Lydia became the chief power in Asia Minor. 



282 THE NATIONS 

towards Gog, in the land of Magocr, the prince of [gloss : Roshj 
Mesech and Tiibal, prophecy against him and say : Thus saith the 
Lord Yahveh : V'erily^ against thee will I, Prince of (Rosh) Mesech 
and Tubal . . . .^ Gomer and all his hordes, the house of Togarmah^ 
the uttermost parts of the north, and all his hordes — many people 
[are] with thee." 

This niarch of Gog described by Ezekiel is usually looked lipon 
as a prophetic vision of the Scythian invasion which broke over 
Asia in the time of Josiah ; Herodotus, i. 103. 

The histoi'ic geographical picture at the root of this eschato- 
logical description is the same which in Gen. x. 2 and 3 floats 
before the mind of the Compiler of the tables of the nations. As 
may be seen from the previous and the following notes on Gen. 
X. 2 and 3, only the eighth Century fits to this description. This 
gives a Jixed povit for tlic liierarii-histoncal c?itici.sm of the tables of 
tiie nations. 

TiRAS lies between the Muski-Phrygians and the west coast of 
Asia Minor. There, somewhere about the territory of Lydia 
and Troas, remnants of a seafaring people, the Tyrseni, settled, 
who were reported in ancient times to be pirates, and of whose 
connection with the Italian Tyrseni there is no reasonable 
ground for doubt. Egyptian inscriptions of the time of 
Mernephta name them as Turusha.^ The nanie in the table 
of nations is therefore a later witness to the movement of the 
seafaring people, which in ante-Greek times played a like role 
as did the Greeks later. Though we as yet have no fuller 
details of the course of this movement, it is worth noting.^ 

Gen. X. 3: ^^ And the sons of Gomer, AshJicnarj, Riphafh, and 
Togarmah.'''' 

^ The ethnological Supplement, " Paras, Cush, and Fut are with them,'" and so 
on, is obviously inserted later, probably also taken from the table of nations. Gen. 
X. 6. 

- In his Att/s. u. Abk., pp. 317 f., Hommel draws the conclusion that the 
menlion of the seafaring people points to the main root of Gen. x. being in the 
Mosaic epoch. In this conclusion he overshoots the mark ; it can only be vindi- 
cated by the {loc. cit.) following observations of Hommel himself, according tu 
which parts of the main root show the Abraham and ante-Abraham epochs. 
When Elam appears amongst the sons of Shem (v. 22), that does not point to the 
time "when Elam still possessed a preponderating Semitic popiilalion" (third 
millennium), but only reflects the fact that Elam belonged politically and in- 
tellectiially to the mighty Babylonian empire This connection, however, lasted 
through all ages, and perhaps still is shown in the division of the spoil after the 
fall of Nineveh ; see pp. 293 and 301. According to texts made accessible by 
P. Scheil, Susa seems to have fallen to Babylon. 

•' An Etruscan inscription found at Lemnos (!) is an important witness. 



ASHKENAZ— TOGARMAH 283 

AsHKEXAz is the Indo-Germanic population of the Ashkuza,^ 
which in the time of Esarhaddon was situated to the south-east 
of the lake ürumiya, to the east of the Cimmerians. The 
Hebrew name is niutilated by an error.- Bartatua, king of the 
Ashkuza, who appears in Herodotus as the Scythian king 
Protothyes, becarae son-in-law to the Assyrian royal house 
through Esarhaddon. One of the inquiries made by Esarhaddon 
of the Sun-god ^ is whether Protothyes will remain a loyal friend 
to Assyria if he is given the daughter. The king of Assyria 
made use of the x\shkuza in the war against the remaining hordes 
of the Manda — first against the Cimmerians (see above), then 
againsi. the Medes. Madyes, son of Bartatua, tried to come to 
the help of Nineveh at the last moment ; and together with the 
Assyrians, the Ashkuza were subdued by the Medes. The 
Oracle in Jer. li. 27 names the kingdom of Ashkuza 
together with the kingdoms of Ararat (Urardhu), Minni 
(Assyrian Mannai), and the Medes, and calls upon them all 
against the hated land. Here all the Indo-Germanic hordes 
are taken together, who since the time of Sargon stormed 
against the Assyrian kingdom. The oracle must therefore 
have its source in Assyrian times ; after the fall of Nineveh the 
summons would be groundless. 

ToGARMAH^ are the inhabitants of Tilgarimmu, which by 
Sargon is named together with Kammanu, in northerly 
Taurus,'' and by Sennacherib together with the people of 
y;ilakki;^^ in both passages Tilgarimmu is conquered by the 
Assyrian king. The country of the Taurus, in the neighbour- 
hood of which Kammanu and Togarmah are to be looked for, 
is called Muzri ' by Shalmaneser I. and by Tiglath-Pileser I. 



^ Assyrian Ash-gu-za-ai in Esarhaddon's inscriptions and Ish-ku-za-ai in Ihe 
Inquiries to the Sun-god oracle of the same time. 

- Knudtzon, Gebete an dem Sonnengott, p. 131. 

^ No. 29 in Knudtzon's pubUcation. Comp. Windeier, F. , i. 4S4 ff. 

■^ Septuagint, Thergama, Thorgama, Thorgoma. The placing of the small 
Togarmah together with the mighty Cimmerians and Ashkuza remains remarkable. 

5 KB., ii. 63. 

^ Not Cilicia, but a district on the Halys ; comp. pp. 2S1 f. 

■^ Named by Shalmaneser II. together wilh Que, lying to the south of it, our 
Cilicia. 



284 THE NATIONS 

From hence Solomon imported his horses. It is said in 1 Kings 
X. 28 = 2 Chron. i. l6 f.: "The horses which Solomon had [were 
broughtj out of Muzri and Que, the king's merchants bought theni 
out of Que at a price." ^ Ezek. xxvii. 14 agrees with this. Here 
we find Togarmah naiiied as the special market for horses: "they 
of the house of Togarmah brought spans and war-horses and mules 
from thy mart." In the Persian time Cilicia was still the neigh- 
bourhood for horse trade. 

Gen. X. 4 : " And the sons ofJavan ; EUshah, Tarshish, Kittim, 
and Dodanim.'" 

Elishah. — According to the Septuagint, the neighbourhood 
of Carthage is meant. This agrees with the historical- 
o-eographical Situation of the passage. In any case, we know 
Carthage bore a move ancient name, and we may call to mind 
the legends of its founding bj Dido-Elissa.^ Elissa is, then, 
here meant as representative of the Phcenician colonies on the 
coast and in the islands of North Africa.^ 

When Ezek. xxvii. 7 says that Tyre brought its people stuffs 
from the isles of Elishah^. it is very remarkable^ since Tyre is the 
primeval home of purple^ and with Tyre also the ftibles of the 
discovery of the Tyrian purple dye are connected. It must have 
been referring to some particular stuff^ such as is found in the Island 
Meninx, south-east from Carthage. The Elishah in the passage 
in Ezekiel may be explained as meaning another district which is 
also celebrated for purple, and which equally fits the Situation — 
Southern ItcUy. In fact, the Targum does understand by Elishah in 
Ezek. xxvii. 7 a city of Italy. But this idea may also rest upon 
later interpretation, as in 1 Macc. i. 1 and viii. 5, where it speaks of 
Chittim-Macedonia as the starting-point of Alexander, that is to 
say, as the kingdom of Ferseus.^ 

T.A.USHISH is the name of the mountainous district in the 
south of Spain. It denotes the extreniest west,^ as Gog denotes 
the extremest north. The "Ancient East" has at present 
nothino- to bring to the elucidation of the question of Tarshi.sh. 

' The passage was later referred to Egypt, which was quite unsuitable for horse- 
trading (see Winckier, Altt. Untersuchtivgen, pp. 172 ff., the starting-point of his 
search for Muzri ; p. 172, ibid.^ it would surely be better to put the position of 
Muzri to the north instead of to the south of the Taurus). 

2 See Ed. Meyer, Geschichte, i. 2S2 n. 

^ According to H. Grimme, in Lit. Rundschau, 1904, p. 346 = Alashia of the 
Amarna Letters = Cyprus. Against this see under Kittim, p. 285. 

■* See for this and for the following, " Kittim," H Winckier, F., ii. 422, 564 ff. 

^ Comp. Jonah i. 3, iv. 2, according to whicli it is arrived at in a ship. 



TARSHISH— KITTIM— DODANIM 285 

P. Haupt, in a lectuve at the Hamburg Oriental Congress, 1902, 
has asserted that the stones of Tai'shish mentioned in the Old 
Testament are cinnabar ciystals from Almada. in Spain, from which 
colours for tattooing ave manufactured, and that the passage, Song of 
Songs, V. 14^ says the brown, bronze-coloui'ed avms \vere tattooed 
with vermilion, and the ivory body^ which was protected from the 
sun, with azure colour. Tattooing had ah'eady been conjectured by 
Winckler, F., i. 293. In Isa. Ix. 9, and Ps. Ixxii. 10 Tarshish appears 
as it does here grouped with the " Isles." 

Kittim. — That the name points to Cyprus ^ must be given 
up. The Greek name of the chief citv, Chition, is no strong 
argument. The city is called Qarthadasht (Carthage) on the 
Assyrian inscriptioiis ; it is onlv in the Phoenician inscriptions 
oriffinatina: in the Persian ao-e that it is called Chiti. The 
Amarna Letters name the island itself Alashia, Egyptian Alas 
or Asi ; under Sargon it is called Ja and Jatnana. In Isa. 
xxiii. 1 and 12 Kittim is the goal of the ships of Tarshish. 
In Dan. xi. 30 Kittim specially means Rome. Therefore 
Southern Italy is meant by Kittim, especially Sicily, Avhich 
then passed as chief representative of the western islands, and 
with Elishah-Africa represents the principal territories of the 
Phoenician colonies. 

DoDANiM. — In 1 Chron. i. 7 (transcript from Gen. x. 4) it 
is Rodanim. Since it at the same time belongs to the children 
of Javan, therefore to the western lands and islands, we may 
think of Rhodes, which in ancient times was of great iraport- 
ance. Another conjecture left unnoticed in 1 Chron. is : Doranim 
= Doria. Greece proper would then be named as a son of 
Javan, which would correspond to the naive geographica! idea, 
to which the lonians, the Greeks of Asia Minor, were closer 
at hand. 

Gen. X. 5 : " O/" these (of Elishah-Carthage, Tarshish-Spain, 
Kittim-Southern Italy, Rodanim-Rhodes \?']) zcere the isles of 
the heathen divided,'" that is, the islands and colonies of the 
Mediterranean. That gives a clear geographica! picture. 

Gen. X. 6 : '"'' And the sons of Harn xverc : Cush^ and Mizmim, 
and Put, and Canaanr 

CiisH corresponds to the old idea of Ethiopia, the Nubia of 

Thus still, according to Kautzsch in Isa. xxiii. i, and i Macc. i. i. 



286 THE NATIONS 

to-da}^ and a portion of the Soudan, about including Khar- 
toum.^ First in the time of Sennacherib this territory comes 
into clear view on the Israehte horizon with the appearance of 
Tirhakah (Isa. xxxvii. 9), king of Cush. The people of Western 
Asia, however, named thus that tract of Arabia which had to 
be passed on the way through to the dark hinterland of Africa, 
just as they named the northern region of Arabia, where it goes 
" through " to Egypt, Muzri, because they thought of Arabia 
in connection with those parts of Africa opposite it.- The 
nomenclature corresponds to the misty geographica! ideas of 
antiquity, when, it is to be kept in mind, Egypt at least was 
reckoned as belonging to Western Asia ; the dark parts of the 
earth began first on the far side of the desert. That Cush is 
here thought of as part of Arabia, as Glaser first announced, 
is shown by the sons descended from Cush, of whom some of 
the names can be identified as Arabian local names. Also, the 
wife of Moses, spoken of in Numb. xii. 1, is in this Arabian 
sense a woman of Cush ; the Cushite Zerah, 2 Chron. xiv. 9, is an 
Arabian captain. Particularly significant is the meaning of the 
name Cush in Isa. xlv. 14, where, along with the merchandise of 
Cush, the " Sabeans, men of stature,'' are named. Possibly in 
Hab. iii. 7 also Cushan may be taken as a slip of the pen for 
Cush ; ^ it Stands here as parallel to the tent-curtains of the 
Midianites.-^ 

MizRAiM is Egypt. It is the sarae here as with Cush- 
Nubia. Mizraim is a geographica! collective noun, which, as 
H. Winckler has recognised, also includes a part of Arabia, 
and even just that region where it leads "through" to Egypt. 
Since by Cush, as shown by the Arabian sons, Arabian country 
is certainly thought of, and since the kingdom Punt (Pudh ; see 
below) is included, it might have seemed to go without saying 

1 See Spiegelberg, Ägyptologhche Randglossen, p. lo. 

'■^ In like maniier the distinction is still made in connection with the nomen- 
clature of the classic age, between the right bank of the Nile as " Arabian Desert " 
in Opposition to the " Libyan Desert." 

^ Or South Arabian formation — ancient article ? Comp. Midian ; further, 
Muzran from Muzur. 

■* See upon this, H. Winckler, K.A.T., ßrded., 144, who presents material from 
the inscriptions on the subject ; and comp. Hommel, Aufs. n. Abk., 208 ff. 



MIZRAIM— PUT 287 

that here also Arabia is meant. But the author of verse 13 was 
thmking, as the "sons^^ show, of Egypt proper. The geogra- 
phical-political Situation answers for the correctness of MiTzri- 
Arabia. The Arabian country concerned is called in the 
cuneiform inscriptions Muzri (Hebrew, therefore perhaps Mozar), 
m the Minaean inscriptions Muzran (alvvavs with article).' 
Here there was a trading colony of the ' kingdom Ma'in 
(Mniaeans), whose chief articles of merchandise were incense 
and myrrh. It is the Biblical Midian.i The "Midianite" 
raerchants of the history of Joseph are Min^eans, and the 
Midianite father-in-law of Moses, Jethro, is a Min«an. At the 
tniie of the fall of the Minaan kingdom the colonies in Muzri 
became independent.- When in the eighth Century— there- 
fore at the time in which the author of our passage was writing 
—the Assyrian kings came to North Arabia, Muzri was still 
mdependent. To this period (according to Hommel, about 
1000 B.c.) belongs, according to Winckler and others, the 
celebrated Glaser inscription 1155 = Halevy 535,^ which speaks 
of the governor of Muzran and of the Min^ans of Muzran, 
vvho undertook a conimercial journey to Egypt, A'shur (Edom. 
according to Honunel) and Ibr naharan, and which shows us the 
Sabteans (see p. 289) on the march towards the south. 

Put.— The Septuagint givcs Put in Ezekiel and Jereniiah 
together with " Libya.^^ It nieans the kingdom of Punt 
(Egyptian, Pwnt), which included the country on both sides of 
the Red Sea.^ It had already had intiniate conmiercial dealings 
with Egypt, and in the eighth and seventh centuries stood, 
hke Cush, in dose relation to Egypt. This Punt stretched far 
into Arabia, and on the African side far northwards across the 
straits of Bab-el-Mandeb ; here again it is to be kept in niind 
that this part of Africa, inclusive of Egypt, was accounted as 
Asia by the ancients. Ed. Glaser, M.V.A.G., 1899, 3, 51 ff., 

1 According to Grimme in Lit. Rundschau, 1904, 346, Midian is much more 
hkely the M-d-j of the Glaser inscription 1155 mentioned. Latest upon the 
question of Muzri, see /]/ V.A.G., 1906, 102 if. 

- It was dissolved in the seventh Century by the Sabreans out of the north • see 
linder Saba, p. 2S9. 

M. V.A.G., 1898, table on p. 56, comp. p. 20 ; A.n., iii. i. 

■* See W. M. Müller, Asien und Europa, 106 ff. 



288 THE NATIONS 

thinks that, from the Egyptian standpoint, the nations of 
South Arabia and of the east coast of Africa are to be 
understood as inchided under Pwnt, and on account of this 
he thinks that in the Bible Cush, rather than Put, reproduces 
this collective idea. In any case there hes a dini geographica!, 
not ethnological, idea as foundation of the Put of the Tables of 
the Nations ; which also explains why the Tables omit any 
subdivision. 

Canaan. — Canaan Stands here, as also elsewhere, for Harn. 
The Harn population is the world of slaves which is to serve 
the Shem population (Gen. ix, 26 f.). The author of our 
passage puts Canaan for this, that is, the population that in its 
on-n country, as a primitive subjugated people, plays the part of 
slaves. From this political point of view it is here perhaps 
spitefully interpolated amongst the " southern lands."" 

Gen. X. 7: ^' Seba, and HavUah, and Sahtah, and Rnnniah, 
and Sahteca : und the sons of Ramah ; Sheha and Dcdan.'''' 

The names Seba, Havilah, and Dedan suffice to sliow that we 
find ourselves here in Arabia, not on Egyptian ground, as Hol- 
zinger in Genesis thinks in regard to Seba. That districts of 
Arabia appear as " sons of Cush" is explained by what has been said 
on Mizraim, Cush, and Put (see also under x. 8 f.). Havilah re- 
presents the region of Central and North-East Arabia; see Glaser, 
Skizze, ii. 323 ff. In Sabtah (Sabteha as variant ?) we think 
of Sabota, chief town of Hadramaut, the South Arabian region 
eastward of Yenien, where the country and ruins are latterly 
being much travelled over and examined (writings by Guthe, 
Bibeküörterbuch, p. 244). Glaser, Skizze, ii. 252, thinks 
Sabtah is the district mentioned by Ptolemaeus, on the Persian 
Gulf.^ Hadramaut (Hazarmaveth) is, it is true, specially 
mentioned in verse 20, but it does not belong there, for there it 
is no longer counting people and races, but ( with exception of the 
twelve sons of Joktan; see pp. 301 f ) heroes ; it has possibly gone 
astray from its place here to verse 26. Raamah (1 Chron. i. 9, 
Raama, Septuagint Regma) is named as here, together with Saba. 
On the Minasan inscription mentioned above (Glaser, 1155) it is 
recorded at line 2 that the a;ods showed themselves grateful to the 

' Othervvise in Hommel, Aufs. ii. Abk., 315. 



SABA— DEDAN 289 

governors of Muzr and of Main (Minaean colony in Muzr ; see 
p. 287) for building a terraced tower, and they " protected it from 
the assaults with which they assaiilted Saba and Haulan upon 
the way (?) between Ma'in and Ragmat (cliief town of Nedjrän), 
and from the war which took place between the . . . . of the 
south and those of the north." Consistency of sound apparently 
forbids a connection with the Bibhcal Ramah. 

Sat^a. — -The Sabteans are meant, who later inherited the 
Minaean kingdom (see the convincing deductions by Glaser, 
SJi'izze, i.). The "kingdom of Saba" did not yet exist when 
Gen. X. was written. In the Assyrian Inscriptions of Tiglath- 
Pileser III. and Sargen the Sabaeans appear as allies of the 
Aribi,^ and are not yet in possession of Yemen, bat are in the 
North Arabian Jowf. The Minaean Inscription mentioned 
above speaks of the Sabteans as a threatening enemy. Since at 
the time of writing of our passage the Sabteans were not yet 
in possession of any settled domain, Sheba perhaps raay be 
explained as variant : the writer vaguely meant some part of 
the Sab^ans, 

Dedax must equally be looked for in North Arabia. In 
the time of Ezekiel (Ezek. xxv. 13 ; comp. Jer. xxv. 23, 
xlix. 8) their territory bordered npon Edom. Glaser, ii. 
329 ff., probably rightly, looks for them in the districts 
stretching northwards from Medina to the borders of Edom. 
Possibly they are also mentioned in the 31st line of the Mesa 
Inscription. 

Gen. X. 8 f . : '-''And Cush hegat Nimrod: he hegan to he 
a mighty one in the carth. He rvas a mighty hunter hefore 
Yahveh, xcherefore it is said, Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter 
hefore Yahveh.'''' 

Since, according to the foregoing conclusions, we are in Arabia 
in verse 7, so, at any rate in the mind of the editor of our 
passage, which is drawn from another source, the nationality of 
NiMROD is decided : he is the eponymous hero of the Semitic 

' There is no connection with Jareb, Hosea v, 13 ; Hommel, Aufs. u. Abk., 230 
ft". The later chief city of the Sabseans was called Marjab, but see upon Jareb, 
p. 302. See upon the Sabseans also Winckler, M. V.A.G., 1898, 18, 22 f,, and 
Weber, A.O., iii. i. 

VOL. L 19 



290 



THE NATIONS 



people rising up from amongst the nations of Arabia. It 
would agree with this that, according to verse 8, he is pro- 
verbially upon Canaanite ground.^ 

On Babylonian ground we meet with the mighty hunter in 
the person of Gilgamesh (Izdubar). 
Gilgamesh is hero of Light.^ Baby- 
lonianised, the narae may be called 
Namir-uddu, that is, "ghttering hght."^ 
The figure frequent upon seal cyhnders 
(with seven ringlets !), vvho playfuUy 
strangles a hon (figs. 78-80), most prob- 
ably represents Gilgamesh-Nimrod. 

Gunkel;, l-iö^ translates it : "a mighty 

hunter in spite of Yahveh/' and sees in 

it a myth of Orion, who^ " in spite of 

Yahveh" that is^ dares to hunt in the 

heavenSj and in consequence is bound to 

the heavens, Job xxxviii. 31^. In fact, 

Ximrod is identified with Orion amongst 

tlie Persians according to Chron. pasch., 

64, and according to Cedremus, xxvii. 28, 

amongst the Assyrians ; see Stucken, 

Fic- 78 -Gileamesh the ^^'f>-"^ȴ^'^''' P- ^7 f. It may equally be 

lion-siayer. Relief from Said: Orion is the hunter Osiris (amongst 

Sargon's palace. the Egyptians Osiris is often thought of 

as the ruler of Orion ; see Gen. xxxii. 11) 

or the hunter Tammuz. The rising and setting of Orion falls 

together with the critical Tammuz points, the solstitial points 

(compare with this pp. 96 ^-s 125 ff.). The double meaning 

may well be intentional in our passage ; but the proverb which 

glorifies a hero does not fit the exclusive rendering, "in spite 

of Yahveh." 




^ We may venture to conjecture besides that the still extant Arabian tradition 
of Nimrod is not connected only with Gen. x., but is, at least pavtially, of extra- 
Biblical origin, just as is the tradition of Nimrod of the Talmud. 

" Sun or moon or Tammuz according to the form of the myth, comp. pp. 86 f. ; 
in any case Zajjäd, "hunter," that is to say, "hunting tyrant " {gibb6r=gabbä7-). 
See upon this Winckler, Gesch. Ist., ii. p. 286, n. 3; F., iii. 403 f. ; and also 
previously /ca'///'ar-A^zwr(7^, Leipzig, B. G. Teubner, 1891, pp. i ff, 

^ See Izdiibar- Nimrod, p. 5. We must also support the conjecture that the 
same name reversed is to be found in Uddushu-nämir, that is, "his light shines," 
name of the messenger of the gods in the descent of Ishtar into Hades. Compare 
with this Hommel, Gesch. Bab. u. Assyr., 394, n. 4, who now points to the ümu- 
namri Gudama of the first Kassite king Gaddash, 



SHINAR 



291 



Gen. X. 10: ''And the heginnmg of Ms {NimrocVs) Ungdom 
tcas Babel, and Erech, and Jccad, and Cahieh, in the land of 
Slimar.'"' 

The name Shinar is possibly identical with Sumer, the 








Fig. 79.— Gilgamesh fighting the hon. Babylonian seal cyhnder, British xMuseuni. 



cuneiform designation of the most ancient Babylonian civihsa- 
tion in the southern Euphrates territory. It is certainly not 
Shanhar of the Amarna letter (letter from Alashia-Cvprus), 






'\L 




Fig. 80. — Gilgamesh fighting the Hon. Assyrian seal cylinder, 
British Museum. Wax impression in the author's possession. 

the Sanqara of the Egyptians, by which they niean much niore 
the territory between Taurus and Antitaurus — what the 
Assyrians name Muzri.i In any case Shinar designates the 

1 See Winckler, F., ii. 107, and K.A.T., 3rd ed., 238 : and comp. pp. 285 f., 
above. 



292 THE NATIONS 

whole Babylonian territory, therefore Sumer (South Babvlonia) 
and Akkad (North Babylonia). Josephus, Ayit., i. 4, says (but 
very likely speaking according to Gen. xi. 2) " Plains of 
Shinar."' ^ 

Babet,. — The North Babylonian city of Babylon (upon the 
name, see p. 205) was from the time of Haramurabi metropolis 
of the Babylonian kingdom, and later, after the fall of Nineveh, 
it was metropolis of the Babylonian-Chaldean empire extended 
over the greater part of the world (" Mother of the Chaldseans," 
Jer. 1. 12 ; " Chaldaicarum gentium caput," in TUi-iy, Hist. Nat.^ 
vi. 30). But also during the intervening period of Assyrian 
ascendancy, Babylon was recognised as a political and intellectual 
centre. The Assyrian kings grasp "the hands of Bei"" (Marduk) 
in Babylon, and proclaim themselves by this solemn ceremony 
as lords of the empire of the world. " King of Babylon '' was, 
from the time of the Hammurabi dynasty onwards, the most 
important title of the kings of Western Asia. Its most ancient 
history is still very dim. The founder of the city was possibly 
that Sargon of Agade whose seal (fig. 86) shows by the goats 
the Gemini motif which preceded the era of Babylon, the 
stories of the foundation of which, however, were already con- 
nected with the motifs of the Taurus age. (The child of the 
sun is persecuted and exposed, and rescued by the Queen of 
Heaven.) The List of Dates of Sargon I., interpreted by 
Thureau-Dangin, mentions Babylon : the Omina of Sargon 
seem, in a passage, mutilated indeed, to speak of the building 
of the city. Certainly Sargon raised Babylon to a foremost 
Position. From the remotest times Babylon and Borsippa 
formed sister cities. First after the union of the citv-kingdoms 
of South and North Babylonia by Hammurabi — therefore in a 
comparatively late time, — Babylon attained the distinctively 
prominent historical meaning which rises to our minds at the 
sound of the name. 

In the Assyrian period the antagonism between the intellectuab 
that is to sav;, the hierarchical importance of Babylon and its 
pohtical dependence led not seldom to severe conflicts. Senna- 

^ He quotes Hestiaeus : " The rescued priests came with the holy relics of Zeus 
Enyalios to Sennaar in Babylonia." 



BABEL 293 

cherib made a mighty attempt to limit the pretensions of Babylon 
to inteliectual prominence. In order to raise Nineveh to the 
Position Ol chief city of the whole kingdom and commercial centre 
of the World, he destroyed Babylon in a barbaric way in 682, 
declared the city to be waste land, and removed the statu es of the 
gods to Assyria. His son Esarhaddon, son of a Babylonian mother, 
■was lipon the side of the Babylonian hierarchy. In 6S1, probably 
from Babylon, he obtained the throne by fighting, and gave 
command to rebuild the destroyed city. His plan, to make 
Babylon the centre of the kingdom, was crossed by the Assyrian 
party. They compelled him to make his son Assurbanipal co- 
regent (he succeeded him on the throne in 668). The nomination 
of his other son S])amash-shum-ukim to be rival king of Babylon 
made a civil war unavoidable. After severe fights, in which the 
Elamites took a decided })art in helping the Babylonians, the city 
was conquered and Assurbanipal had himself croAvned king of 
Babylon under the name of Kandalanu. But in this victory lay the 
seed of tlie fall of the Assyrian power. The destruction of their 
sworn foe Elam broke down the dam which had held back the 
Indo-CJermanic tribes. After the overthroAv of Assyria there 
began for Babylon a new and brilliant epoch. Since about the 
eleventh Century some Chaldean tribes had settled in Babylonia. 
They formed at first a country population, under their own princes, 
but they had ahvays striven from earliest times to obtain possession 
of Babylon, and with that the claim to rule the world. After 
Chaldean kings had repeatedly reigned temporarily in Babylon, 
they definitely attained their goal under Nabopolassar during the 
Assyrian time of confusion. Ünder the Chaldean dynasty beginning 
with him, ßab^don became again independent and allied herseif 
with the new^iy formed Median kingdom. After the fall of 
Nineveh the spoil was divided between the Babylonians and the 
Medes. The Chaldean Neo-Babylonian kingdom of Nebuchad- 
nezzar (605-562) which thus arose formed the continuation of the 
Assyrian kingdom. Nebuchadnezzar founded great fortifications 
and waterworks, restored the temples, chiefly the temple of 
Marduk at Esagila with the tower of stages, and built for himself a 
gigantic palace. Upon the further political history, see Chap. XXII. 
Cyrus besieged Babylon on the ]6th Tishri 539 ; " Without battle 
or slaughter " he entered, after the city had been betrayed to him. 
But once more the Babylonian civilisation proved its indestructible 
power by overcoming the conqueror. Cyrus himself became 
"Babylonian." Darius introduced an opposite policy. Desiring to 
give precedence to the eastern part of the kingdom, he therefore 
emphasised the Persian cult of Ahuramazda in Opposition to the 
Babylonian cult of Marduk, and he made Susa, ancient city of the 
Elamites, sworn foes to Babylon, the metropolis. A revolt in 
Babylon was quenched. Babylon opened her gates to Darius, and 
a part of the fortifications were razed. The records by Herodotus 
of the Sieges by Cyrus and Darius are ornamented with fable 



294 THE NATIONS 

Shortly after Darius^ Babylon lost her importance, which she 
had tili then retained as rival of Susa. The temple of Esagila was 
destroyed by Xerxes, the statues of Mavduk were dragged away to 
Susa (Herodot.^ i. 183). Babylon lost thereby both her political 
and religious importance. The title " king of Babylon " disappears 
after Xerxes^ the centre of commerce (comp. Ezek. xvii. 4 : 
" Babylon a land of traffic and a city of merchants "), was transferred 
to Opis^ later to Seleucia, finally to Baghdad. '' Babylon ad 
solitudinem rediit exhausta vicinitate Seleucise/' says Pliny (vi. 30). 
Yet once again the light of Babylon flickered up when, under 
Alexander the Great^ Greek culture passed on its way to the East. 
Babylon recognised Alexander's policy^ and expected that he would 
restore her old prestige. The German excavations have brought to 
light a Greek theatre of the Hellenistic period. Alexander wished 
to make Babylon metropolis of his rule of the world^ and to rebuild 
the temple of Marduk.^ But he died in Babylon too soon. Seleucus 
removed the royal residence to x\ntioch in Syria. With this the 
Hellenistic attempt to revivify the Ancient-Oriental empire was re- 
nounced. After the death of ^^ Alexander^ the son of Alexander," 
the last gleam was extinguished. The sanctuary of Marduk with its 
priesthood still long retained great influence. Strabo^ xvi., says that 
the remnant that remained over from the Persian period came to 
their end in consequence of persecutions by the Macedonians ; and 
the city became a great wilderness. In the time of the Parthians, 
however, it could not have been quite deserted. In the year 1 27 
the Parthian king Evemerus sent raany families from Babylon to 
Media and burnt great buildings which were still extant.- At the 
beginning of the Christian era Babylon was the seat of a strong 
Jewish Diaspora and of a Jewish high school.^ According to the 
Excerpts of DiodoruS;, p. 785, Trajan instituted at Babylon a 
sacrifice in honour of Alexander. Cyril of Alexandria says that in 
the beo-innins: of the fifth Century Babylon w^as chan2:ed into a 
swamp in consequence of the bursting of the canal banks.^ Comp. 
St Croix, Acad. des Inscr. et Beiles Lettres, 48, Avhere all the 
passages on the fall of Babylon are collected together. 

^ Arrian, Exp. Alex., vii. 17. He wished to use the idle army for this purpose. 
The priests, who may perhaps have feared a disturbance of their sinecure, seem 
themselves to have hindered the work. Ep. Jerem. gives in Baruch vi. 10, 11, 
28, interesting disclosures of their proceedings. 

- Diod. Sic, Fragm. 34, 21 ; Justinian, xlii. i ; Athenseus, xi. p. 463, see 
Layard, Ninevch and Babylon, p. 407. 

'' Upon the later age comp. Funk, Die luden in Babylonien 200-500, Berlin, 
1902. The hatred of Babylon, which is so strongly marked in the Apocalypse, 
shows itself also in the Rabbinical writings ; for example, Kidduschin 72, where 
Babylonian cities are mentioned as places of iniquity (see Nork, Rabb. Quellen, 
pp, cxviii, f. ). 

^ Isa. xiv. 23 : "I will make Babylon into a lake of water " ; Jer. li. 42 : " A 
sea is come up over Babylon." 



ERECH— AKKAD— CALNEH 295 

The ruins of Babylon are situated in the neighbourhood of the little town 
Hillah. Systematic excavations were carried on froni 1849 to 1855 by Loftus and 
Taylor, also experimentally by Layard ; from 1851 to 1854 by the Frenchmen 
Fresnel and Oppert, whose treasures were lost in the Tigris on 23rd May 1S55. 
In the year 1S79 systematised excavations were begun by which the Springs and 
aqueducts, piers and ruins of terraces (hanging gardens as in Nineveh?) were 
brought to light. and which we have to thank for the discovery of the Cyrus 
cylinder, by Hormuzd Rassam. Since Easter 1899 the German Orientgesellschaft 
has been systematically excavating in the Kasr. They opened u]! some Chambers 
of Nebuchadnezzar's palace and discovered, amongst other things, the processional 
avenue leading to the temple of Esagila. Further detail, see in the article on 
" Niniveh und Babylon," R.Pr. Th., 3rd ed., and Hommel, G.G.G., 29S ff. 

Erech is the Uruk of Babylonian literature (it is also written 
Arku), the 'O/oxo?/ of the classical authors, and lies buried under 
the ruins of Warka of to-day.^ The city was the chief place of 
the Anu and Ishtar cult and is the scene of the heroic acts of 
Gilgamesh-Nimrod. 

Akkau is the x\gade of the cuneiform writings, city of the 
eider Sargon, and then the name for the North Babylonian 
kingdom, whose chief city was Agade. Its Identification with 
Agade has now been assured by the Inscriptions K 9906, Bezold, 
Catalogue iv. 1049, and comp. Weissbach, Z.D.M.G.^ 1899, 
p. 6B1. 

Calneh (not to be confused with the North Syrian city 
Calne, Arnos vi. 2 = Calno of Isa. x. 9 = Kullani of the cunei- 
form 't) cannot be as yet certainly proved by the cuneiform. 

Jensen^, Theol. Lif. Ztg., 1895, pr. 510, takes as an error in the 
text nn'ps = Kullaba, an Ancient-Babylonian city named in the 
cuneiform. Hüprecht's hypothesis, that Calneh is really the ancient 
Nippm-j is daring. Hommel, supplementing, thinks that Ki + Illin, 
that is, Bel-Enlil ("IA.A.tros of Damascius), is hidden in it. Nippur 
however, is the ancient city of Bei. The Talmudic tradition to 
which Hilpvecht appeals is perhaps Yoma vii. 9^' and 10, where, 
amidst entirely confused interpretations of Gen. x., Calneh is 
designated i^]2. The mention of Nippur is, in fact, to be expected 
in this connection; see Hommel, G.G.G., comp. Hilprecht, Excava- 
tions in Bible Lands, 410 f., and Kittel in R.Pr.Th., 3rd ed., article 
on Nimrod. 

Gen. X. 11 : " Out qf that land he iventjorth into Assur (.^), and 
builded Nineveh, and Rehoboth-Ir, and Calah, and Reseoi between 
Nineveh and Calah — \the same is the great ciiyY''^ 

1 For the cuneiform mention of it, comp. Delitzsch, Wo lag das Paradies, 
pp. 221 ff. - The last sentence is a gloss, see p. 298. 



296 THE NATIONS 

Micah V. 6, where the '' land of Nimrod " is said to belong to 
Assyria, not to Shinar, agrees with the Information that Nimrod 
built the city of Nineveh away from Babylon, in the country of 
AssuR. Upon Babylonia as antithesis to " the land of Assur," 
comp. Clement, Recognitiones, i. 30. 

NiXEVEH, Assyrian Ninua, Nina, Hebrew Nineveh, Septuagint 
Nivew', and i] 'Nivo? of the classical writers, takes its name 
probably from Ninib as that of the summm deus in Ninüa (his 
feminine counterpart is Ishtar of Ninua). Ninus, son of Bei — 
Ninib, son of Bei ; see Hommel, G.G.G., p. 41, n. 1. Historical 
evidence does not take us back to the oriffin of Nineveh. From 
its Situation on the route of the caravans leading across the 
Tigris to the mouth of the Choser the place may, from times 
of yore, have been of importance as a trading colony and then 
naturally also as an intellectual centre. Originally it was 
certainly an outlying branch of a Babylonian city of the same 
name, Ninua-ki, which is always spoken of in connection with 
Ki-nu-nir-ki (Borsippa ?), and which is very probably identical 
with the city Ninua-ki of the temple lists of Telloh.^ 

When the South Babylonian king, Gudea of Lagash, relates 
that he built a temple of Ishtar at Nineveh, possibly the 
Babylonian Nineveh is meant. But the Assyrian Nineveh was 
already then of some importance. In the Louvre there is an 
inscription of the second king of Ur (Dungi, about 2700) found 
in Nineveh, recording the building of a temple of Nergal, 
which could hardly have been dragged in additionally. H.C., 
iv. 60, names it together with Assur as belonging to 
the districts under his rule, and mentions the temple of 
Ishtar. And according to the statements upon the votive 
bowls of Shalmaneser L, which are supplemented by the his- 
torical reminiscences of the annals of Tiglath-Pileser I., the 
Assyrian king Samsi-Ramman I., son of Ishme-Dagan (about 
1820), had already renovated the temple of Ishtar in Nineveh, 
which then AshurubalHt and Shalmaneser I. himself (about 1300) 
repaired. It is equally certain that the Nineveh of the earliest 
age known to us belonged neither to Babylon nor to Assyria. 

1 Unless we assume that there were two Babylonian Ninevehs. Also the 
Arabian geographer Yäqut knows of a Babylonian Ninawaj. 



NINEVEH 297 

It is much more likely that it was the centre of one of the 
independent States lying in Alesopotainia proper, forming for 
a time the kingdom of the Kishshati, and which, as intermediary 
for Babylonian civihsation to the bordering nations, particularly 
Assyrian. fulfilled a verj important task. 

In the Teil el-Amarna period (about 1450) Nineveh belonged 
to the kingdom of the (Hittite) Mitanni, who had overflowed 
the Kishshati kingdom. The Mitanni king, Tushratta, must 
have possessed Nineveh, for he sent a statue of the goddess of 
the city to Egypt, in homage, and in another Mitanni letter 
Nineveh is called the city of the goddess Sha-ush-[bi] ; this, 
however, is the Mitanni name for Ishtar. Then the kings of 
Assur conquered Nineveh, earliest under Ashuruballit. The 
Assyrian kings of the foarteenth-twelfth centuries repeatedly 
mention the building of temples in Nineveh. Assur was chief 
citv of Assvria, and residence of the king, fourteen hours' journey 
south from Nineveh ; ^ later it was Kelach. Nineveh remained 
for the time being an inconsiderable city. 

Nineveh has to thank King Seunacherib for its period of brilHance. 
He had destroyed Babylon, and wished to raise Nineveh to the 
Position of first city of the East. The inscription in one of his 
buildings says (K.A. T., 3rd ed , 75) : " Then I enlarged the borders of 
my residence Nineveh. I changed her streets — the way ''king's 
road ' — and built them magnificently. I built rampart and wall 
with skilb and mountain high, 100 large ells wide did I make her 
ditches. Upon both sides I had inscriptions placed : 6:2 large ells 
Wide have I measiired the width of the king's road to the park 
gate. If anyone of the inhabitants of Nineveh rebiiilds his old 
house and builds a new one, and lets the foundation of his hoiise 
touch upon the king's road, he shall be hanged upon a beam on 
his house." 

Under Esarhaddon and Assurbanipal Nineveh became a great, 
"lofty city." As the most beautiful, and possibly the largest, city 
of the East she filled the world with astouishment and fear for a 
hundred years. From hence went out throughout the wovld the vic- 
torious armies and the messengers demanding tribute (Nahum ii. 13). 
She was the centre of commerce (Ntihum iii. l6, '' Nineveh's mer- 
chants more in niunber than the stars of heaven "). The füll hatred 

1 The ruins of Kal'a Sherkat were presented to the German Emperor in 1902, 
for excavation ; they promise valuable Information upon the most ancient history 
of Assyria. The excavations have been conducted since 1902 by the German 
Orientgesellschaft. Comp. M.D.O.G., 1903 ff. 



298 THE NATIONS 

and scorn of the nations enslaved by the Assyrians poured itself upon 
Nineveh. Under Sennacherib's son and successor Esarhaddonj 
however, and under Assurbanipal, the convulsions began which 
destroyed the Assyrian kingdom about 60S. The hatred against 
Nineveh may well have grown still more intense under Assur- 
banipal. Nineveh became then truly a " bloody city " (Nahum iii. 1). 
But she became also a high school for '^"' Chaldean wisdom." 
Assurbanipal, Sardanapalus of the Greeks, formed in his palace a 
library of Bal^ylonian literature, in the treasui*es of which we still 
study to-day the Babylonian-Assyrian intellectual world.^ Under 
his son Sarakos, Nineveh Avas destroyed 607-606. That she was 
not totally annihilated is proved by the condition of the mounds of 
the ruins. The dialogue between Mercury and Charon^ by that 
Lucian Avho comes from Samosata (!) : " My good boatman, Nineveh 
is so destroyed that no one can say where it stood ; there remains 
no trace of it," is founded upon exaggeration.- 

The mounds of ruins which hide ancient Nineveh lie opposite the present city 
of Mosul, on the left bank of the Tigris, at the mputh of the Choser. The pioneer 
of excavation in Nineveh was James Rieh ; after him Emile Botta and Victor 
Place worked, and, chief of all, Austen Henry Layard. The excavation has been 
only half done up to the present day ; it has lately, however, been taken up anew. 
Botta was disappointed by the first excavations. A peasant directed his attention 
to Khorsabad, which lay four hours more to the north. Here the residence of the 
king Sargon was found who (722) conquered Samaria. Henry Layard, later 
connected in the work with the English Consul at Mosul, Hormuzd Rassam, 
found, southward from Nineveh in Nimrud (the Biblical Calah), in the district 
of Nineveh, the palace ofSennacherib with seventy-one Chambers. Hormuzd Rassam 
in 1S54 reached the palace of Assurbanipal, the Greek Sardanapalus. In the Hall 
of the Lion Hunt he found, in thousands of fragments of baked clay tablets, a 
part of the royal library mentioned above. This discovery forms to the present 
day "the chief treasure of cuneiform inquiry." 

The extent and size of the ancient city of Nineveh cannot 
up to the present be given from the excavations. The State- 
ments in Jonah iii. 3, iv. 11 are scarcely likely to be exag- 
gerations. Against this the statement of the text before us : 
^' Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir, and Calah, and Resen between 
Nineveh and Calah — the same is the great city," rests upon an 
error of the glossator. " The same is the great city " is an 
Interpolation of the glossator. "^ Rehoboth-Ir is probably the 
rebit Nina of the cuneiform, and is very likely to be looked for 

^ Bezold, Zeiitralblail für Bibl. Wesen, Juni 1904. And my essay in Katalog 
II. : der Alte Orient, by Rudolph Haupt, Halle u. I. Saale, 1906 ; Die IVieder- 
entdeckun^ Niiiivehs und der Bibliothek Asnrbanipals. 

" For further detail of the history of Nineveh, see article on " Niniveh und 
Babylon" in R.Pr.Th., 3rd ed., and Zehnpfund in A.O., v. 3. 

^ The glossator is thinking of the much-feared Nineveh. According to Hommel 
it might be a gloss to Resen, a play of words upon the chief temple E-gal-mah. 



CALAH— RESEN— PATHRUSIM— CASLUHIM 299 

on the Site of the present Mosul, opposite to Nineveh, for which 
it served to a certain extent as Ute de j^ont (Billerbeck). 
Calah is Kelah, the above-mentioned city under the mound of 
the ruins of Nimrud at the mouth of the Upper Zab. Shal- 
maneser I. made it, about 1300, the chief city in place of 
Assur. Sargon also resided here tili he had built his own 
residence (see above), which was consecrated in 706, a year 
before he was nmrdered. Sennacherib raised Nineveh to be his 
residence. Resen was an independent place, which may be 
looked for under one of the mounds of ruins between Nineveh 
and Nimrud. Homniel identilies Resen with Nisin, the Larissa 
of Xenophon. 

Gen. X. 13 and 14 : " And M'izrahn begut Licdim, and Anamim, 
and Leliah'im, and Naphtuhim, and PatliTusim, and Casluhim, 
ifhence zcent fortli the PhUlstinefi \j:ind Caphtorini].''^ 

From the mention of the Pathrusiji (Upper Egypt, Thebes) 
it was always rightly concluded that Egyptian territory is 
meant, though other nanies point to nations of the Mediter- 
ranean. W. M. Müller in O.L.Z., 1902, pr. 471 fF., has 
announced the acceptable conjecture that Pathrusim is a gloss, 
introduced by a reader probably after the mention of Pathros 
in the prophets, and that this gloss has proved a mare's nest, in 
that it has led the critics astray upon barren Egyptian paths. 
It is not dealing with Egyptian provinces, but with neighbour- 
ing outlying possessions and vassals of the Egyptians.^ Instead 
of Casluhim we may read Kasmonim, according to the Septua- 
gint. W. M. Müller amends this reading in the first sound (A: 
and n are very near alike in Hebrew) and calls to mind the 
Nasamonen, a tribe in the neighbourhood of the great oasis of 
Amnion, situated in the farthest north. In 'Anamim he reads 
k as the first sound, instead of the aspirate (also this disfiguring 
of the letters would be easily explicable), and thinks of the 
inhabitants of the southernmost and greatest oasis, that of 
Knmt (the t is found in the Septuagint, Enemetieim), which is 
what Brugsch, in his Reise nach der grossen Oase, p. 68, had 

^ I had already conjecturally announced and enlarged upon this in connection 
with the mention of the Libyans before the clear-sighted essay by W. M. Müller 
came under mv notice. 



300 THE NATIONS 

already conjectured on his own account. In Naphtuhhi one 
would then willingly look for the third great oasis, lying 
between tho.se of Amnion and Knmt. This middle oasis, the 
" Land of the Cow,'' is that of Farafra. W. M. Müller raises a 
conjecture which at first sight appears very bold : he construes 
" Land of the Cow '' into an Egyptian name, Miiich at any rate 
in Hebrew might be written Naphtuhim. The Ludim are 
possibly the Lydians (Septuagint, Gesenius), who later appear in 
Asia Minor, and were there annihilated by Cyrus. The Lubini, 
westward from Cyrene, who in Nahum iii. 9 are mentioned 
together with Put (Punt ; see above, p. 287), are probably 
certainly to be found in the Lehabiui (Lebu of the Inscriptions). 

" And Caphtorim "" is a gloss taken from Amos ix. 7, sug- 
gested by the mention of the Philistines.- 

Gen. X. 15 ff . : Thk Natioxs of Canaan. By Canaan is 
here meant the whole territory from Lebanon to Nahal Muzri. 
SiDox designates Phüenicia (the Phoenicians called themselves 
Sidonians), Hethites (Hittim, who shortly after the Teil el- 
Amarna period passed into Syria and Phoenicia (see p. 339); 
Syr'ia isfor this reason called in Ässyr'ia the land qf Hatt'i. They 
pressed on as far as the northern boundary of later Israel (Hermon 
forms the boundary)? Jeeusites (in the district of Jerusalem), 
A^ioRiTEs (remnants of the Amurri). The ARKrrEs are the 
Irgata of the Amarna texts ; the Ar-qa-(a) of Tiglath-Pileser 
III., whioh in III. R. 9 and 10 is twice named together with 
Simirra as a North Phoenician city, still flourishing in the time 
of the Roman empire.'-^ Sinites — Siannu, mentioned by 
Tiglath-Pileser III. (K.B., ii. 26 f.) in the neighbourhood under 
consideration. The statements, verse 19, '" unto Gerar " and 
" unto Gaza," are identical ; it is the boundary district at 
Nahal Muzri. The ARVAurrES (verse 18) are the people of the 
" State ''' of Arvad. This was on an Island in North Phoenicia, 
cuneiform A-ru-a-di-(a) (Sennacherib : Qabal tamti, situated in 
the midst of the sea). Ezek. xxvii. 8, 11 describes them as 

^ This seems to me to be more probable than the view earlier brought forward 
that the remark " whence came the Philistines" belongs as gloss after Caphtorim. 

^ IV. R. 34, No. 2, 58, mat I-ri qa-at-ta, Hommel, Assyn'an Notes, 9, 
P.ß.A.S., 1S95, 202, 



THE NATIONS OF CANAAN 301 

sailors and brave warriors. After the campaign of Tiglath- 
Pileser IIL, presently to be mentioned, the district remained 
independent. 

The Zemarites are the Zimirra of Assyrian inscriptions, 
their positioii is not yet determined. Tiglath-Pileser III. ^ 
nanies Zimirra amongst the nineteen cities seized from Hamath. 
It belongs, therefore, to the North Syrian province of Assyria, 
whose first prefect was the later king Shalmaneser. Probably 
the city is identical with Zumur (Zumur — Zimir as Muzur = 
Mizir), often named in the Amarna Letters (letters of Rib-Addi 
of Gebal), according to which, after Aziru (opposed by Rib- 
Addi), Coming from the north, had taken Irqata ( = Arqä), he 
was prevented by Zumer from pressing on against Gebal. It 
lay, therefore, bet\veen Arqa and Gebal. Tiglath-Pileser names 
besides, together with Zimirra, another North Phoenician city, 
Zimarra — that is, Simyra, lying to the south of Arvad, and 
therefore not to be confounded with Zimirra, which lay to the 
north.- 

The ÜA^rATHrrEs represent the Syrian Hamath. The above- 
named provinces of Arvad and Zimirra took part, together with 
Damascus and Samaria, in T20 in the rising of Ja'ubidi of 
Hamath against Sargon. 

The enumeration of the kingdoms of the Sinites (Siannu), 
Arvadites (Aruad), Zemarites (Zimirra), and Hamathites corre- 
sponds, therefore, with the political Situation of the Syro- 
Phoenician minor states in the time of Tiglath-Pileser III. 
(second half of the eighth Century), and of his successor ; the 
writer of Gen. x. 15 ff. must have lived about this time. 
So the addition of verse 18'' belongs to a later redaction. 

Gen. X. 22: '"'■The sons of Shem ; Elam., and Ässhur, and 
Arpachshad, and Lud, and Aram.'" It is with good reason that 
Elam is named amongst the sons of Shem, and shows a know- 
ledge of political geography. Semitic Babylonia always laid 
claim to Elam, and from most ancient times it belonged to Baby- 
lonian civilisation. In Arpachshad (Arpakeshad ?) is hardly to 

^ Kl. Inschriften, i. 2. 

" Gen. X. 5 is a curious choice of " nations of slaves," which, however, the 
author has not systematically vvorked out. 



302 THE NATIONS 

be found Arrapha ( -j-Kesed = Kasdim ?), the name of the district 
betweeii Media and Assyria, which formed in pre-Assyrian 
times a separate kingdom, then, under Sargon, appears as the 
provinces of Arpaha, but upon the stele of Nabonidus again 
comes forward as an independent province. With this con- 
nection a purely Babylonian designation is to be expected.^ 

Lud is the Lubdi " of the cuneiform (easily explicable error 
in writing), the country between the Upper Tigris and the 
Euphrates, northwards from Mons Masius, or its western con- 
tinuation. Adadnirari I. says he extended his conquests from 
Lubdi to Rapiqu. Samsi-Adad I. names it amongst the re- 
bellious Assyrian provinces. The Ludim, however, in verse 13 
are to be distinguished from this Lud. From verse 24 onwards 
(verse 21 belongs to this part) another line begins, which names 
no more nations, but heroes. As sons of Joktan, however, some 
Arabian provincial names are interspersed." That Hazarmaveth 
= Hadramaut of the South Arabian inscriptions, bas been moved 
from elsewhere to verse 26 has ah'eady been remarked, p. 288. 
Possibly also Sheba, verse 28, and Ophir (the land of gold in 
South Arabia, to be looked for in Elam, in agreement with 
Hüsing, or in India ?), Havilah, and Jobab, verse 29, are all 
moved. We cannot resist the conjecture that in Jobab the 
long-sought Arabian provincial name of Jareb ^ may be found. 
Halevy considered the name Juhaibib on Sabaean inscriptions. 

The frontier places of Mesha and Sephar, verse 30, cannot 
be decided with certainty. Dillmann reads Massa (in North 
Arabia) ; Sephar is possibly the Saprapha of Ptolemy and Pliny, 
Safar of to-day, in the middle of the south coast of Arabia.^ 

^ Comp. Jensen, Z.A., xv. 226 {=arb-kis/iadi, "land of four coasts"), and 
likewise previously Delitzsch, Paj-adies, 255 f. 

" Jensen, D. Lit. Ztg., 1S99, p. 936; upon Lubdi, see Winckler, F., ii. 47, 
and Streck, Z.A., xiv. 167 f. 

^ According to Hommel, Atifs. 11. Abh., 316, n. 6, twelve sons. 

■* Hosea V. 13, "King [of] Jareb" ; see R'.A.T., ßrd ed., 150 f. 

^ Hommel, Aufs. it. Abk., 293 f., looks for the niountain (=1:0' Numb. 
xxxiii. 23 f.) between 'Aqaba and Qadesh. 



CHAPTER XII 

THE TOWER OF BABEL 

Gen. xi. 2 : '•''And it came to pass, as they journeyedfrom qedem^ 
tliai they came^ to a piain (biqa'a) in the land of Shinar ; ~ and 
they d'ucdt there (shäm).'' With this begins the post-Deluge 
age. The connection with the System of the Ages is no longer 
recognisable. The kabbahstic Yalkut Rubeni, 326, suggests that 
possibly the tower was built after the Deluge as a place of refuge 
in the expected fire-flood (ö?.^ hw 7''lo). Cosmic motifs lie in 
qedem and shäm.'^ 

Gen. xi. 4 f . : " Go to, ice ic'dl budd a city, and xce icill erecf a 
migdal^ there, zchose top shall reach tinto heaven, so that xve may 
not he scattered abroad over the ichole earth.'" They wished to 
form a strong political Organisation. Hammurabi Cod., ii. 42 ff., 
" made the summit (of the temple tower) E-an-na (in Uruk) 
high, and amassed provisions for Ann and Ishtar (the goddess 
of Uruk) ; he was the protector of his land, who gathered 
together again the scattered inhabitants (nucpaJjhir nishi 
shaphätim) of Isin, and so on." Here we find the tN\o antitheses 
together. A tower (that is to say, inigdal — that is, a stronghold 
with temple tower) as symbol of state Organisation ; antithesis 
to it, the " scattering " of the inhabitants.-^ For this reason the 

^ Upon the meaning of this Statement of direction, see p. 204. Likewise 
Gen. XXV. 6. 

- See Winckler, F., iii. 312 ; n'^o, not "they found." 

" Shcvn is a catchword, comp. v. 7, 8, 9 ; see Winckler, F., iii. 405, also xxxv. 15. 
In antithesis to qedem, south(p. 299), shäm is north, as the Arabians, according to 
pre-Islamic designation, denote the northern region (Syria) with shäiii (in 
antithesis to the southern Yemen). The usual addition of Maghrib and Mashriq 
shows that the Babylonian Kibla towards the east lies at the root. 

■* Following Tj? we add, with Winckler, loc. cit., the cü' i:'7 niJ'>'3 from its wrong 
place ; □CJ', not " name," but shärn, catchword, see n. 3. 

' See Winckler, loc. cit. , 404 f. 

303 



304 THE TOWER OF BABEL 

"gathering together of tlie scattered" {micpahfyir shaphäti) 
belongs also to the motif of the expected redeemer. On the 
boundary stone in the Berlin Museum, Merodach Baladan II. 
causes himself to be glorified as the redeemer called by the 
gods, of whom the oracle spoke : " This is the shepherd who 
will mend the broken'' {inupahlüru shajjJjäti). Therefore it is 
also said of Cyrus, hailed as saviour in Isa. xliv. 26 fF. : " He 
shall build again the eitles of Judah ; he shall be the shepherd 
that saith of Jerusalem : She shall be built, and of the temples, 
Thy foundation shall be laid anew ! " And in Ezek. xi. 17 
and elsewhere the "gathering together of the scattered'' is 
the motif of the expected redemption.^ '' Migrlal, wliose top 
shall rcacli the heavm.'" A purely Babylonian form of building. 
The tower in the temple of every town was the central point.^ 
Of the Tower of Babel it was repeatedly isaid when it was 
renovated: Its top shall reach the heaven/' Nebuchadnezzar 
raised the summit of the tower of stages at Etemenanki, " so 
that it rivalled the heaven/' The author is describing Baby- 
lonian architecture. " We -will maA'e hricl-"" (comp. Exod. i. 14, 
same words in Assyrian, labänu libittu, comp. Nahum iii. 14, 
jnalben, brick-mould). Nebuchadnezzar explicitly says that he 
had the tower of Babylon restored with brick and mortar; 
another time he records that he overlaid it with enamelled 
bricks, and made the summit of uhin-stone {K.B., iii. 2, 

1 As in the Babylonian gathering and scattering in the picture of the shepherd, 
Ezek. xii. 15, Matt. xxvi. 31, and other passages. Upon the dispersa! (motif word 
p-3, thatis to say, ;•=:), compare in addition Isa. xxxiii. 3, possibly also Zech. iii. 10. 
\]^ox\gathen7ig, compare the name she'ar jashiU, " the remnant shall be gathered '■' 
(we hold with Erbt, Ebräer, 133, the passive signification to be secondary) ; and 
the name Josep-el, " El is gatherer " {ib. 37). 

2 The three- or seven-storied temple tower (see p. 17) is charactenstic of the 
most ancient civilisation known to us of Western Asia. The Egyptian Pyramids 
appear to have their origin in the tower of stages (see Hommel, Geschichte, p. 17, 
Atifs. lt. Abk., 391 ff., G.G.G., 126 f.). The step pyramid of Sakkarah 
(Pharaoh Zoser'of the third dynasty, see fig. Si), built of baked bricks, was 
originally of seven stages ; so were the Medum pyramids of Snofru (fourth 
dynasty). Together with these there were three-storied pyramids, as in Baby- 
lonia ; compare the picture on the vase in de Morgan's Recherches snr ks oiigines 
de rigypte, ii. 236. After the time of Cheops the Egyptians built pyramids in 
place of the earlier mastabas. 

3 Nabopolassar, i. 36 f. {K.B., iü. i, 5)> and Neb. Hilpr. (clay cylinder), n. 5 ; 

see B.A., iii. 548- 



BABYLONIAN TEMPLE TOWERS 



305 



pp. 15, 31). The oldest ruins of the tower at Nippur, built out 
ofunbaked rectangular bricks, sliow to the present day the 
remains of the bitumen (Gen, xi. 3, hernar, « asphalt " : Assyriaii 
hiqjTiu as in the ark ; Gen. vi. 14, Kopher -. Aramaic Jaiphm), 
which was used as building materiaL 

Herodotus, i. 179, describes the method of building quite 
correctly in bis account of the building of the walls of Babylon 
He describes the walls, which had already been carried away, but is 
nnstaken in themeasurements; see Billerbeck.^.O., i. 4, p. T.'note:— 

" They prepared bricks from eavth which was thrown out from 
the trenches ; and aftei- they had formed a lavge number of bricks. 




Fig. 8i.— The step-pyramid of Sakkarah. 

they burnt them in ovens. Afterwards, however, they took for 
mortar hot asphaltum, and between every thirty layers of briek 
stuffed a layer of woven reeds." 

The description is exact. The interiayers of reed have been 
found in the ruins of Babylon. 

The ruins of such temple towers are found lipon every large 
mound in the Delta. The ascent was by a winding way, or 
by Steps ; often both together (.see p. 307). The tower of Nebo 
at Borsippa (see fig. 82) still stands forty-eight metres above the 
hill of Birs Nimrud. It was composed of seven stages, corre- 
sponding to the seven planets, and to the present day the remains 
of the planet colours are to be seen.^ It goes without saying 

^ For further detail, see Kampf um Babel ti. Bibel, p. 40, and previously in the 
nionograph on Nebo in Roscher's Lexikon der Mythologie. Compare also Hommel, 
Aji/s. 71. Abk., 384 f. u. 457 f., and Zimmern, R'.A.T., 3rd ed., 616 f., n. 7. 

VOL. I. 20 



306 



THE TOWER OF BABEL 



that these gigantic ruins were enveloped in fable, even in the 
post-Babylonian age. Thus it is quite explicable that the Jewish 
tradition (Beresch. Rabba, 38; comp. Shabbath, 36''') con- 
nected Gen. xi. with the temple of Borsippa instead of with 
the temple of Bel-Merodach of Babylon, and that Alexander 
Polyhistor and Abydenus connected a tradition corresponding 
to the account in Genesis (and dependent upon it r) with the 
gigantic ruins of Birs Nimrud.^ 

The architect Chipiez in 1879 exhibited in the Paris Salon 
reconstructions of such temple towers, according to_^ Herodotus 




Fig. 82.— The ruins of the tower of Nebo at Borsippa. 

and the cuneiform records ; they are described and drawn by 
Perrot and Chipiez in Histoire de lart dans f Antiquite, ii. 379 ff- 
An authentic drawing has been found on an alabaster relief in 
Nineveh (see fig. 8), and upon the reproduction of the Merodach- 
ßaladan stone (fig. 3), where the tower of stages Stands amongst 
serpents and dragon monsters. Upon fig. 8 compare Bischoff, 
Im Beiche der Giiosis, p. 80. Upon the ruins of the temple tower 
of Nippur, opened by the Amei-ican expedition, see fig. 83, and 
comp. Hilprecht, Die Ausgrabungen im Bcl-Tempel zu Nippur. 
Upon the ruins of the step-temple of Assur^ see M.D.O.G., 1905. 

Herodotus, i. 181 f., gives a description of the temple of 
Mai'duk in Babylon, proved to be accurate on the whole by the 
records of the excavations : 

^ Other temple towers were mentioned earliev at pp. 31 and also 138 ; see also 
p. 307, n. 3. 



BABYLONIAN TEMPLE TOWERS 307 

xA.s centre of each of the two parts of the city there is, in one 
partj the royal Castle surrounded by a great and strong wall, in the 
other the sanctuaiy of Zeus-Belus Avith bvonze gates ; this Avas 
extant e\'en in niA' time, a sqiiare of two stadia each way ; in the 
middle of the sanetuary is built a tower_, of stone, the length and 
breadtli being one Stadium ; lipon this tOAA'ei- is built another toAvei", 
and upon this again another, tili there are eight (!) towers ; you 
ascend by steps Avinding round the outside of all these towers (!). 
About midAvay of the ascent is a resting-place Avith seats, Avhere 
they Avho ascend sit doAvn to rest ; in the last toAA'er is a great 
temple : in this temple is a large, AA'ell-cushioned couch, and by it 
Stands a golden table ; but there is no image of any god erected 
there, also no one niay remain there throughout the night except 
one AA'oman, a natiA^e, one chosen by the god from amongst all the 
otherSj ai the Chaldeans assert the priests of this god are chosen. 
These same assert also, Avhat the}' haA^e not conA'inced nie of, that 
tlie god himself comes to the temple and rests upon the couch, 
just as he is said to do in Thebes, according to the Egyptians. For 
there also a Avoman sleeps in the temple of the Theban Zeus. 
These tAvo, they say, couA-erse AA-ith no man. It is the same in the 
Patara of Lycis AA'ith the priestesses of the god during the time 
Avhen the oracle speaks ; this does not happen all the time ; but 
Avhen it happens, then they are shut u]) in the temple through the 
night AAith the god. 

What was the purpose of the Babylonian temple toAvers r 
Like all the temple sanctuaries, they were the type of a heaA'enly 
(cosmic) sanetuary. As the astrological pictures upon the 
boundary stones represent " houses " (that is to say, thrones),^ 
for the planet divinities, so the boundary stone of Merodach- 
Baladan ^ shows a tower of stages in the heaA-en. The temple 
toAvers of seA'en stages are types of the heavenly tower of stages,^ 
Avhich the circles of the planet courses (tuhuqäti) form aboA'e the 
zodiac, and to ascend Avhich is a work well-pleasing to the 
divinity ; p. 57. 

^ Compare, for example, p. ii, fig. 2. 

" P. II, fig. 3, see above. 

•^ Also the other temple towers have names bearing reference to the cosmos. 
" House of the fifty" (that is, the cycle of the universe, see above, p. 31) was the 
temple at Girsu. The temple of Marduk at Babylon was called E-temen-an-ki, 
" House of the foundation of heaven and earth " ; the temple tower of Nippur was 
called, amongst other things, E-sag-ash, " House of fate," probably in the sense of 
the decision of destinies. The seven-storied temple of Bei at Nippur was called, 
amongst other things, Dur-an-ki, " Band of heaven and earth" (Hommel, G.G.G., 
351, n. 2), 



308 THE TOWER OF BABEL 

We may assume that this purpose was also emphasised later. 
The temple towers would then represent the attempt to draxv 
fiearer to the divimty. The chronicler in Gen. ii. seems to 
have taken it this way, only he brands such a design as heathen 
foolhardiness and sacrilegious insolence. 

It may be taken for granted that the temple towers, whose 
summits represent the entrance into heaven, uere crowned with 
a sanctuary. Nebuchadnezzar records that he built npon the 
summit of the temple towers of Babylon and Borsippa a gleaming 
sanctuary as a " well-appointed chamber.'''' ^ 

How far the description in Herodotus applies cannot be 
decided with the material at present available. It is very 
probable that the service of the " wife of Marduk " spoken of 
in the Code of Hanimurabi is connected with these temple 
chapels. 

Seeing the high estimation in which astronomy was held in 
Babylon, it is further to be expected that the towers also 
served for astronomical purposes.- The inscriptions up to the 
present, however, give no indication of this. But Apollonius 
of Tyana (i. 25), who seems to have gathered his description of 
Babylon from good sources, may have had the temple tower in 
mind when he speaks of a great building of brick, overlaid with 
bronze, and says that in it there was a chapel gleaming with 
gold and sapphires which represented the firmament (the star 
heaven 't). 

Lastly, it might be expected that the towers served for burial 
purposes. The temple of Bei at Nippur (see fig. 83) is surrounded 
by graves, like the Pyramids ; one of its names is E-gigunü, 
" house of the graves." The classical writers, as is known, 
assert that the temple of Babylon contained a tomb of the god 
Bei, and with this agrees the inscription of Nabonidus which 
calls the tower at Larsa the " grave of the Sun-god." ■"' Perhaps 
also the grave of Ningirsu in the temple at Lagash, erected by 
Gudea, and the grave of Malkat at Sippar, m hich Hammurabi 

^ Mashtaku. taqni, A'.B., iii. 2, 31. 

• The Pyramids likewise, according to late Statements, had passages for the 
Observation of the solstices. 

^ K.B., iii. 2, p. 90, line 16 ; see Hilprecht, ioc. cit,, p. 71. 



BABYLONIAN TEMPLE TOWERS 309 

in the introduction to his Code of Laws decorates with green, the 
colour of resLirrection (see p. 121) may be sought in the temple 
towers. They are the sanctuaries of the divinity enibodying the 
death and resurrection of natural life (nioon, sun, or the cycle). 
But at the same time we have to do u'ith the graves of the kino-s, 




l-"iG. 83. — Remains of a tower of stages in Nippur. 

as in the case of the Pyramids.i The Ancient-Babylonian kings 
were held, hke the Pharaohs, as the incarnation of the divinity. 
Naramsin, Gudea, and Dungi bear the divine determinative.- 
The Egyptians said to the nmmmy of the king : " Thou art 
Osiris," that is to say, " Thou wilt rise again " (p. 89). And 

' Hilprecht, in Die Ausgrabungen im Bel-Tcmpd zu Nippur, 6S fl., sees in 
the stage towers the presentation of a fine cosmic religious idea : the upper part 
representing the divine majesty, the middle part the place of worship of manl<ind 
dwelling lipon earth, and the lower part, reaching down into Hades, the place of 
the dead, This construction of Hilprecht's does not altogether agree with the 
Babylonian idea of the universe ; modern religious presentments are mixed in 
with it which demand too much from antiquity. 

- Thus Hommel in G.G.G., p. 126 ; comp. Auß. u. Abk., 390 ff. 



310 THE TOWER OF BABEL 

doubtless the same idea was connected with the graves of the 
kings in the Babylonian temple towers. 

Traditions outside the Bible 

In the Sibylline Oracles (quoted in Theophilns, ad Jictohjcuw) 
it is Said in the third book (Kautzsch, Pseudepigr., 187 f.) : 

" When they " 1 built the tower in the land of Assyria — they 
were^ however, all of one language, and they desired to cliiiib even 
to the stany (I) heaven. But forthwith the Immortal " laid mighty 
compulsion lipon the winds/' and the storms threw down the great 
tower "from on high " and roused the mortal strife amongst them ; 
therefore nien gave the name of Babylon to the city. But when 
the tower was fallen and the speech of men had changed into 
many languages, and the earth was filled with death, while the 
" kingdoms " were divided, it was the tenth generation of men 
aftev the Belüge^ and Kronos^ Titan, and Japetos (!)- were their 
rulers. 

Alexander Polyhistor (Syncellus, 44) connects the fable with 
the battle of Titan and Prometheus against Kronos, and says 
likewise that the gods overthrew the tower and gave to every- 
one a different language. He foimds bis assertions upon the 
Sibyls, which are also otherwise called the Sibyls of Berossu>i. 
It may be assumed that a like story was to be found in Berossus. 
Josephus, Ant., i. 1, 4, knows of the same source. He relates it, 
using the same words (''the gods raised a storm,'"' etc.), but he 
oraits the Greek names. He records previously, however, in the 
same chapter, the Jewish tradition of the building of the tower, 
which puts the " wrath and scorn of God" upon Nebrod (Nimrod), 
grandson of Chamas, the son of Noah : " for he was bold, and 
his hands were strong.'' 

The historian Eupolemos says, according to Euseb., Pricp. 
ev., ix. 17 : 

Those saved from the üehige built first the city of Babylon. 
They were, however, giants, and they built the celebrated tower (!). 
When this, hoAvever, was overthrown by the müI of God (!), the 
giants were scattered throughout the whole world. 

^ The passage in quotation marks is from Theophilus. 

^ This may be supplemented by the other Sibylline evidence here adduced, 
which, like the Bible, links on the confusion of tongues. 



TRADITIONS OUTSIDE THE BIBLE 311 

Moses ofChorene, the Armenia^n historian (fifth Century a.D.), 
relates : - 

From them (the divine beings who in the first ages inhabited 
the earth) sprang the race of giants^ strong of body and of 
monstrous size. Filled with pride and defiance, they made the 
sacrilegious plan of building a high tower. But whilst they were 
occupied with the building a frightful wind^ raised by the Avrath of 
God, destroyed the monstrous building^ and threw amongst the 
naen unknown words^ by means of "which disunion and confusion 
arose amongst them. 

The Book of Jubilees, preserved by the Ethiopiaiis, chap. x. 
(Kautzsch, Pseudepigr.^ v. 9), relates: 

And in the thirty-third Jubilee, in the first year of the second 
week of years, Peleg took a wife named Lomna. of the daughters 
of Shinar^ and she bare him a son in the fourth year of this week of 
years. And he called his name Reger^ for he said : Behold^ the 
children of men are become wicked through the godless scheme to 
build for themselves a city and a tower in the land of Shinar. For 
they had wandered out of the land of Ararat towards the east in 
the land of Shinar. And in his days they built the city and the 
tower_, saying : Come^ we will ascend into heaven by it ! And they 
began to build ; and the fourth Aveek of years they burned bricks 
with fire, and the bricks served them for stone, and for a wash with 
which they washed;, they used asphalt^ which comes from the sea 
and from the Springs of water in Sinai. And they built it : forty 
and three years they built it : " there were 203 bricks in its width^ 
and the height (of a brick) was the third of one " : its height rose 
to 54-33 ells^ 2 hands, and 13 stadia. And the Lord our God spake 
to US : Behold, (they are) a people and have begun to act, and now 
is no (thing) more hnpossible to them. Come, let us descend and 
confuse their language, so that none may understand the speech of 
the other, and they will be scattered into cities and into nations, 
and until the Judgment Day they shall never again be of one mind. 
And God descended, and we descended with him, to see the city 
and the tower which the children of men had built. And God 
confused their speech, and none understood the other any more, 
and they ceased for ever from building the city and the tower. 
And therefore the whole land of Shinar was called Babel ; for here 
God confused the language of the children of men, and from hence 
they scattered themselves into their cities each according to his 
city and to his nation. And God sent a strong wind against the 
tower and overthrew it to the earth, and behold it (was) between 
Assur and Babylon in the land of Shinar ; and they called its name 

^ Upon these last evidences, see Lueken, p, 314 



312 THE TOWER OF BABEL 

''' Ruin." In the fourth week of yea.rs, in the beginning of the first 
year, in the thirty-fourth Jubilee^ they were scattered throughout 
the land of Shinar. 

Of the fables outside Asia, we draw attention to the 
Me.v'ican. The tower is pure Babylonian, and corresponds to the 
Mexican temple towers, whose relation to the Babylonian ah-eady 
Struck A. von Humboldt. 

One of the rescued giants built of bricks an artificial hill as a 
memorial, on Mount Tlalok in Cholula. The gods saw this 
buikling^ whose sumniit was to reach the clouds, with disfavour, 
and they hurled fire upon the pyramid ; therefore the pyramid of 
Chohila is incomi^lete. 

As early as the sixteenth Century, after the rediscovery of 
America, Pedro de los Rios mentioned the fable and recorded of 
it that it was recited in a song containing treasure of the vanished 
Mexican language during a dance round the temple of stages 
(Humboldt, Cürdilleren, i. 42).^ 

The Greek fable of the giants, who piled Ossa upon Olympus, 
in Order to storm the heavens, and who were destroyed by Zeus 
by lightning, is also worth mention because Julian the Apostate 
asserted that Gen. xi. 1-9 was borrowed from the Greek myth. 

Up to the present there has no cuneiform record been found 
of a Babylonian story of the building of a tower. In the 
monograph on Nebo in Roscher's Le^vikon, iii. -54 f , reference is 
made to the ever-recurring error arising from the " Chaldwan 
Genesis " by Smith-Delitzsch. 

The there adjoined text K 3657 (Bezold, Cat., ii. 552) has 
nothing to do with the tower." It can also hardly be assumed 

- The value of the fable has been doubted, and it has been said it mixes up 
familiär traditions with BibHcal histories (E. B. Tylor, Anahziac, London, iS6i, 
276 ; Andrea, 104 f.). But the stories are just as likely to be Ancient-Oriental as 
the Pyramids, the origin of which they relate. They must not be placed upon 
the sanie level as the poetised iUustrations of the Mexican picture-writings — like, 
for example, the dove which carried abroad language after the Belüge (see 
Lueken, Tafel iii. ; compare with it Andrea, pp. 105 ff.). 

'^ It is speaking of a time of decline and ruin in Babylon (distress in consequence 
of the Elamites? ), as has already been shown in the article on Nabo in Roscher's 
Lexikon. "The people of Babylon were held to forced labour." The hero 
dasires, as it seems, to free the land from tyrants. "All day he was troubied 
by their cry, he found no rast upon his bed by reason of their laments, he lost 



TRADITIONS OUTSIDE THE BIBLE 313 

that such a stoiy will be found in cuneiforni. The point of the 
storv of the tower is directed against the proud Babylon. 
''This great Babylon, which I have built," Dan. iv. 30, 
indicates the proverbial Babylonian pride ; compare the fio-ure 
of Speech used about the tower, ^'its top shall reach the 
heaven,^^ pp. 304 ff. The origin of the story should un- 
doubtedly be looked for outside Babylon. Stadels hypothesis, 
that the Hebrew chronicler niade use of an accepted literarv 
Babylonian copy, seems a jjriori imtenable. The puipose of 
the story is religious— it is no question here of an historical 
event. Possibly the stoiy is a i)rütest against the astral 
religion represented by the towers.i 

The tradition of the confusion of tongues and division ot 
nations has been linked on to the story of the tower.- Herder 
says in his Geist der hebräischen Poesie: " Something definite 
must have occurred to throw these people into contention ; 
Philosophie deductions are not satisfactory." Perhaps the 
definite thing is the veiled fact in civilised history conveyed in 
form of the story that the land of iShinar is in fiui the cradle of 
all civilisation. 

reasou in his vvrath ; his niind was set upon the overthrow of the governnient.'^ 
The text now in King, T/ie Seven Tabhts of Crcatioii, ii. , PI. Ixxiii. f. ; in addition, 
ib., i. 219 f. 

1 Compare the Greek fable of Atlas, the discoverer of astrology, who was 
changed into a niountain as pimishment. 

- The I43rd fable of Hyginus relates only the confusion of tongues: ''Many 
hundred years ago men led a life without cities or laws, speaking only one 
language. But after Mercurius (Nebo ! ) had made many tongues amongst men 
and also had divided the nations, discord began to reign, which was displeasing 
to Jupiter."' 



CHAPTER XIII 

PRE-ISRAEI,ITE CANAAN (see APPENDIx) 

Babijlonia and tlie '''' Westland ^'' 

Gen. xii. 1 : " Get thee out of thy country unto the land that I zvill 
shocc thee." The goal of the migration is the Bibhcal Canaan. 
Let US try, with the help of the sources open to us, to construct 
a picture of the land which was the goal of the Abraham 
migration, and later was the stage for the history of the 
'^ Children of Israel." 

The coast-land of the Mediterranean, to which Canaan belongs 
in the narrow sense, is separated from Babylonia by the Syro- 
Arabian desert, and from its geographica! position was known 
to the Babvlonians as the " Westland." For its desiernatioii 
the same ideogram is used as for the west wind — Martu, inter- 
preted in syllables as x\-mur-ru-u.^ This " Westland " forms, 
from the most ancient times known to us, the bridge between 
the'Euphrates districts and Egypt."' In particular, it was to 
Babylonia the longed-for '' way to the sea," to the ports of the 
Mediterranean, especially in the time when the passage to the 
Persian Gulf was closed by the mighty " sea land," a term the 
historical meaning of which is still unknown. The Babylonian 
Caravans and armies travelled there over the same route as is 

' Not Aharru, as was formerly read ;_ the Amarna Letters write A-mu-ur-ri. 
Upon Amurru, " land of the Amorites," see p. 336. 

" The passage quoted in note, p. 275, from Wellhausen's GesciiiclUe Israels tuid 
fiidas, shows how difficult it is for the old idea, which looked upon the Bible 
country as an isolated district, to take these facts of monumental evidence into 
account and to give up the old supposition. It is said in Löhr's Geschichte 
Israels: "Canaan was ihe bridge of the world's intercourse between Asia 
diid Africa, yet it was ai the same time an isolated land, withdrawn from 
intercourse." 

314 



BABYLONIA AND THE "WESTLAND" 315 

giveii in the migration of Abraham, through Harran, crossing 
the Euphrates at Biredjik. 

Lugaizaggisi, king of Erech (about 2700), says in a record 
written in Sumerian : 

.... When he had conquered (the countries) from the vising 
to the setting, the god Inhl had made smooth his path from the 





Fig. 84. — Marble head of a " Sumerian. 



Fig. 85. — Figure of a wuman from 
Telloh, tim.e of Gudea. 



lower sea (Tigris and Euphrates) to the uppei- sea ; from the rising 
to the setting has Inhl [given] him. 

The interests of Babylonia, therefore, reached ah-eady a,s far 
as the Mediterranean in the oldest period of our records. 

Lists of dates ^ show that also the kings of Ur, which is held 
to be the honie of Abraham (p. 6, ii.), had intercourse with the 
" Westlands." '^ Gudea, prince of Lagash, records that he brought 
wood for buildinff from the mountains of Amanu. Intercourse 



1 Scheil in Reciteil de Travaiis d'archJologie cgypl. ass/r., vol. xvii. 

- With Arabia also ? The local juxtaposition by Hommel in Anc. Heb. Trad., 
37, of Imgi, Shabu, and Ki-mash (according to Scheil, the two last towards Elam), 
is not satisfactorily proved. Upon the relations between Ur and the "West- 
land," See loc. cit., p. 57 ; and H. Winclder, Gesch. Is;:, ii. 296. 



316 



PRE-ISRAELITE CANAAN 



with Arabia is also attested : he brings ushu wood and iron 
froni Meluh and diorite froni Magan.* Omina, reaching back 




_ .^-^ -^i:^-^- 

Fig. 86. — Seal of King Sargon I. 

tu aboLit 3000, üften deal with the countries through which 

- the niihtary road towards 
the west passed (the king- 
doin of the Kishshati, to 
which Harran belonged 
and Suri) and with the 
" Westland ^Mtself.i 



1 




Fig. 87. — Naramsin, son of Sargon I. (Flil- 
precht, II. R. xxiii., Old Babylonian Itiscriptions^ 



III. R. h'd, 5 : If an 
eclipse oi the mooii on the 
Fith Adar begins in the first 
watch of the night, it is an 
omen for the king of the 
Kishati, Ur, and Mar-tu 
(AmuiTu). - 

III. R. 58, ] : If the 
luoon shows itself 011 30th 
Dhebet;, Suri the ahlamu 
(noniads) will avm^ a stränge 
people will conquer the land 
of Mar-tu (Amurru). 



Theie is a special record 
by the Babvlonian king Sargon (about 2800), and bj his son 

- "The W'estland " is named ten tinies in astrological connection in the 
Fragments of the library of Assurbanipal ; see M.V.A.G., 1903, 48. Matt. ii. 
shows Ihe same interest in the " Westland." The Magi read in a constellation in 
the East an evenf in the " JVestland"' which was of importance to them also ; 
seeB.JV.T., 50 ff. 

- This oracle contains the three stations of the Abrahamic migration, for 
Harran belonged to the kingdom of the Kishati ; compare the article on Harran in 
R.P.Th., 3rd ed. 



BABYLONIA AND THE "WESTLAND" 317 



Naramsin, of an extension of the doniinion towards the '" West- 
land ■" and beyond,^ told in such a form as to show that it had 
long belonged to the natural 
interests of Babylonia. Their 
deeds are, unfortunately, only pre- 
served for us in fragments as 
"Omina'" in the library of Assur- 
banipal, and, indeed, with each 
event the constellation is given 
under which it occurred. 

In the documents reeording the 
rebuildfng of Babylon by Sargon it 
is Said : — 

Sargon^ who under the omen 
.... the governnient [to the realms 
of] Babylon re[movedj, took away 
the mounds in the neighbourhood 
(?) of the Tuna gate .... [after 
the pattern (?)J of Agade built a 
eity, named it [Babijhi 

A further Omina document re- 
cords the o\ert]iro\v of Elam : 

He overthrew the sea and turned 
towards Gutium (Armenia)^ he over- 
threw Gutium and tiunied towards 
and .... 




FiCr. SS.— Stele of victory 
of Naramsin.^ 



Elam, he overthrew Elam 



Then it is said in a document : 

Sargon^ who (under the oraen . . . .) went up^ found no foe able 

^ Fig. S6, Sargon's seal. Upon the legends of the birth of Sargon, see 
Exod. ii. Fig. 87, Naramsin ; Fig. 8S, campaign of Naramsin, strikingly related 
in presentment to the Mycensean battle memorial, fig. 89. See upon this, and the 
following, Winckler, A.O,, vii. 2, p. 12. Sargon stood for the type of Baby- 
lonian rule. The founder of the last Assyrian dynasty called himself Sargon II. 
He wished to open a new era ; 350 (universe lunar year) kings had reigned before 
him. Following the example of Sargon I., he placed his statues in Chition in 
Cyprus. 

- It represents the triumph ofthe Babylonian over the Elamite. Later, this 
Stele of victory was carried away to Elam as plunder, the Babylonian inscription 
was partially erased, and replaced by an inscription of the Elamite ruler Shut- 
ruknahunte. The astral gods upon fig. 8S niay also be held tobe " regents of 
the World." 



318 



PRE-ISRAELITE CANAAN 










--"/ 



V-- 






A^ '^^r - 



\ 



FlG 89 — Fragment of 1 silvei goblet fiom a Mjcenrean tonilj 
After Perrot-Chipiez, Histoire de Part. 





Fig. 90. — Ancient-Babylonian head of a goat. 
According to Hilprecht, from Fara near Babylon. 



to Avithstand liim. Ins 
fear over . . . ., passed 
over the sea of tlie 
West, [tai-ried] three 
years in the West, con- 
queved [the countryj, 
united it, [ere]cted his 
statues in the W^est, 
took tliem pi-isonevs in 
cro-\vds over the sea. 

Whence had Sargen 
the ships ? Did he 
build thein himself.^ 
or did the cities of 
the coast supply theni 
to him 't In any case 
the later Phosnician 
cities had long been in 
existence. In an in- 



BABYLONIA AND THE "WESTLAND" 319 




scription which refers to Sargon or to his son Naramsin, 
it is Said that " kings of 
the sea-coast " of thirtv- 
two eitles obeyed him. 

Our %s. 91-96 illus- 
trate the civilisation of 
Babylonia,the influences 
of which, since the oldest 
times known to us, over- 
spread also the region 
of the later Bible lands.^ 

A mightv monumental Fig. 91. — Ancient-Babylonian spinning-woman 
evidence reaching down (time of Gudea). Discovered in Susa.2 

into our own time^ for the 
passage of the Egyptian and 
Babylonian armies through 
the " Westland/' is the de- 
file of Nähr el Kelb (Dog 
River) at Beirut (comp. 
Boscawen^ sketcli-map of 
the Nähr el Kelb, vol. vii.), 
where Pharaohs of Egypt 
and kings of Assyria have 
carved their pictures and 
inscriptions in the rock. 
Fig. 96 shoAvs an early 

^ Figs. 93 and 94 show a most 
instructive example of the cen- 
turies old "arms" moiifs. The 
staff of y-Esculapius and the war 
eagle upon vases of Gudea and 
Entemena (fig. 95). For an- 
other example of the migration, 
see p. 317, and in Hommel, 
G.G.G., p. 122, n. I (the two 
Uons). Hommel, zö., II2, n. 4, 
draws attention to an ancient 
Egyptian pendant to the arms on 
the Gudea vase. 

" Behind the royal (?) Spinner 
Stands a slave with a fan. The 
Spinner sits upon a stool, with 
crossed legs. The picture bears 
Publisher'smarkofaneditionofTheocrituswhich out our observations on Gen. 
appeared in Rome in the_sixteenth Century A. D. xviii. 4. 




Fig. 92.— Vase-holder of the time of Gudea. 
Third millennium B.c. Discovered in Telloh. 




320 



PRE-ISRAELITE CANAAN 



representation of the rock groups on the left bank of the Dog 
Rivei". So far as we knoAv, there is no later pictiu*e of it. A road 

novv leads across ; the ancient 
militai-y road by the carvings 
is ahiiost impassable. On the 
right bank an inscription by 
Nebuchadnezzar II. was found 
(published in D.O.G., part v., 
Leipzig, Hinrichs). Fig. 97 
shows two nionuments, one 
Egyptian and one Assyrian 
(Esarhaddon). Unfortunately 
the others are not yet pub- 
Hshed. An accurate registra- 
tion of the monuments treated 
by Benzinger is to be found in 
Baedekers Palesiine, 1910, p. 
248. Figs. 98 and 99 iHus- 
trate travelling on the caravan 
road. Judging by the date- 
palni tree, fig. 98 does not 
refer to Assyria, but to Baby- 
lonia. 



Since the " We^■tland "' 
counted as an iniportant 
part of Babvlonian do- 
minion, it very soon appears 




Fig. 95. — Silver 
Lagash, with 



vabc 
the 



of Entemena of 
arms of Larash. 



(Gudeaage. ) Discovered in Telloh. 




Fig. yj. — The headland at the Nähr el Kalb. After a ürawmg 
from the middle of the nineteenth Century. 



BABYLONIA AND THE "WESTLAND 



321 



as a political factor. From the correspondence of the Harn murabi 
age ^ we learn that the name Amurru originally signified a tribe 
(like the Biblical Amorites), for it speaks here of Amurru in the 
Sjrian desert, who play the same part as later the Suti, Aramjeans ^ 

and Arabs in the same re- , 

gion. But at this period 
Amurru also denotes a 
certain territory, includ- 
ing the later Phoenicia, 
Palestine, and Ccele 
Syria.2 Arad-Sin is 
named before Rim-Sin. 
It is doubtful whether it 
is a case of a double name 
of the same king, or 
whether it is a brother. 
The Sumerian corre- 
spondence to Arad-Sin 
would be Eri-aku ; pos- 
sibly to be identified with 
the Arioch, king of Ella- 
sar ( = Larsa?), of Gen. 
xiv. He names himself 
ad-ad of the Westland.-^ 




i^^' 






#W^ 



.-f-^Vg».^,,;;^---- 



Fig. 97. — Monument from the Nähr el Kelb. 
After Bezold, Niniveh und Babylon. 




Fig. 98. — Migration of an Assyrian family. 

1 Comp. Peiser in M. V.A.G., vi. 144 ff. - Winckler, K.A.T., ßrd ed., 17S. 
^ It probably means king, or something of the sort, possibly veiling the idea 
" guardian." A passage in Peiser's Urkunden, p. 37, leads me to this conjecture. 
VOL. I. 21 



322 



PRE-ISRAELITE CANAAN 



But Hammurabi, his contemporary and conqueror, who imited 
South and North Babylonia (Sumer and Akkad) into one king- 
dom, calls himself, in an inscription upon a stone plate which 
bears his likeness (%. 100), and which is dedicated to the West- 
land Ishtar (Ashratu), " king of Mar-tu (Amuriu),'' and one of 
his letters is addressed to Ahati, wife of Sin-idina, who appears as 
rahiä n (Commander) of ]\Iar-tu. * ^ And the king Am miditana," of 




Fig. 99. — A Seinitic family desiring permission to dwell in 
Egypt. An Egyptian presentment of the middle king- 
dom (about 1900 B.c.).' 

the same dynasty, reigning about 2000, says : "King of Babylon, 
king of the city of Kish, king of Sumer and Akkad, king of 
Daganu,* the hill country of Mar-tu, am I." It is easy to see 
that the " Westland " played a very prominent part in the 
growth of the Babylonian kingdom.* Nebuchadnezzar I. (about 
1100) names V. R. 55, 10 the A-mur-ri-i between Lulubi and 
Kashshi, and in a passage, unfortunately mutilated, mentions in 



^ King, No. 98. Mar-tu can only be a designation for "Westland" in the 
sense in which we take it. The mention of Ashrat in the inscription upon the stone 
slab of Hammurabi (fig. loo) answers for this. 

^ To be read thus, and not Ammisatana ; see Ranke, Personal Names, 
p. 65. 

3 Formerly interpreted as " entry of Jacob into Egypt." Comp. W. M. 
Müller, Asien und Ejtropa, p. 36. 

■* According to Hommel, G.G.G., 10, 89, 390, n. 2, it is plainly da-ga-mu in 
the original ; comp. King, Letters, iii. 207. 



THE HITTITES AND THE «WESTLAND'' 323 

a conversation with Marduk. after his victory over Elam, the 
land Mar-tu.* i 

Whether the specific Biblical country, the " Land of Promise " 
(Gen. xii. 1), was included, in the political sense, in Amurru in 
the Babvlonian age is not known. It possibly lay heyoncl the 
Southern Iwundary of the dominion of the Babvlonian kino-.s 




loo.— Stone tablet from the British Museum, 
with a likeness of Hammurabi. 

During the centuries of its dominion o\er the "■ Westland,'' 
naturally Babylonian civilisation and thought spread throughout 
the land. The discoveries at Amarna ofFer surprising evidence 
of this, showing that in the middle of the fifteenth Century 
B.c. thej used Babylonian cuneiform writing in this " West- 
land." We will deal further with this later (p. 335). Only 

1 Meissner, Be>-1. Ph. W., 1902, pr. 980, takes it there was a western and an 
eastern Amurru. At most it could only be a matter of the shifting of a political- 
geographical idea, but see previously Winckler, Unters, zur alt or. Gesch., ^. yj , 
n. 2, and K.A. T., 3rd ed., 179, where, besides line 20 f., there is a confusion in 
the printing, and Hammel, G.G.G., p. 242, n. 2. 



324 PRE-ISRAEIJTE CANAAN 

one other civilised power could compete with the Babylonian 
influence in that ancient time — Egyj)t. That the intellectual 
influence of Egypt also was feit in Canaan is certain. But 
it is equally certain that specifically Babylonian influence 
predominated. In Palestine evidence of both is given by the 
latest discoveries at Taanak and Mutesellim (Megiddo) ; p. 342. 
That Egypt won political ascendancy over Syria and Palestine 
even soon after the age of Hammurabi, we alreadv knew froni 
the Egyptian records, The Amarna age has illustrated vividly 
the circumstances of Egyptian ascendancy in the niiddle of 
the fifteenth Century.^ 



Egyptian Evidence 

The kings of the first dynasties had already come in conflict 
with Asiatic Semites in the district of Sinai, a peninsula 
whose mines were worked by the Pharaohs who were buried in 
Abydos Senoferu, founder of the fourth dynasty, boasts in the 
Annais of Palermo of his victory over the noniads. The 
" princes' wall," " designed to keep off the Asiatics," perhaps 
came into existence then. The kings of the mighty fifth 
dynasty niade the rocky defiles accessible. The eastern 
mountains, the " land of incense," of Punt, was the goal of the 
expeditions. Under Pepi (Apopy) I. (sixth dynasty, about 
2500) the first campaign against Asia is recorded. His inti- 
mate friend Une relates in his epitaph the \ictorious campaign 
against the Amu, Syrian nomads : — 

This army was happy, and cut iip the land of the Bedouins 

tliis army was happy, and destvoyed the land of the Bedouins 

this army was happy, and overthrew their fortresses 

this army was happy, and cut dow^n their fig-trees and vines 

this army was happy, and threw fire into all their villages 

this army was liappy, and slew tliere niany hundreds of thousands 

of troops 
this army was happy, and brought home prisoners in great 

crowds. 



^ Upon the Egyptian and Babylonian relations spoken of in this chapter, 
compare pieviously Fr. Hommel, Anc. Heb. Trad. 



EGYPT AND CANAAN 



325 





Fig. ioi. — A- 
movite prisoner 
of Rameses 
III. 



If we may conclude from this that already, before the 
sixth dvnasty, therefore in the time of the great pyramid- 
builders, Palestine was tributary to Egypt, so we have, on the 
other band, an indirect evidence that in the following period, 
düring the political weakness of the seventh- 
eleventh dynasties (2500-2000 b.c.), powerful 
States arose in Syria. We raust conckide this 
from the fact that the monuments of the mightv 
twelfth dynasty show no trace of any influence 
lipon Syria, and we find the fact conlirmed by the 
respectful nianner in which a story, come down to 
US from this age, speaks of the Syrian princes. 

We have to thank an Egyptian papyrus manu- 
script for some detailed inforniation about the 
land to which Canaan in the narrow sense belono-s, 
which relates the hfe of Sinuhe,^ a prince and 

adherent at the court of 
Usertesen I. (about 2000 
B.c.). The poem, which the Egyptians 
accounted amongst their classical hter- 
ature, and used for many centuries in 
their schools for a specimen copy, gives 
US a lifehke and at the same time, for 

FiG.ioa.-Bedouinof'A-mar-a^l''^ following inquiry, very welcome 
(land of the Amorites) as a presentment of Bedouin hfe in ancient 

prisuner in Egvpt, LD 200. t» i j.* o- ^ e 

^ ralestnie. femuhe, for some reason, 
Hed from the court over the Isthmus of Suez into Asia (" over 
the princes' wall").- He first stayed about half a year in 
Qedem,3 where he found Egyptians settled (as merchants .^), 

' P. 3022 of the Berlin Museum, last translated by Erman-Krebs, Ans den 
Papyrus der Königi. Museum zu Berlin, pp. 14 ff. Comp, also W. M. Müller, 
Asien und Europa, pp. 38 ff. , and Hommel, Altis. Überl. , 48 ff. 

- The historical backgrouud of the flight of Moses from the court of Egypt into 
Midian must have been very like this. He had bccome a politically unwelcome 
personage, perhaps upon religious grounds. The Biblical tradition shows a trace 
of that in the story of the murder of the Egyptian. The legends teil more about 
it. In fact, this was certainly only the excuse, not the reason for the exile of 
Moses. 

■' That is, probably the region round about the Dead Sea ; comp. Hommel, 
Aufs. u. Abk., 293, n. 4. 



326 PRE-ISRAELITE CANAAN 

and then he came to the prince " of Upper Tenu.'' ^ He placed 
Sinuhe '"' at the head of his children." and married him to his 
eldest daughter. Then it says : 

He chose out for me a part of his Land, from the most exquisite 
of his possessions^ upon the borders of another country. It was 
the beautiful land of Yaa.- Figs grew there and grapes, and it has 
more wine than water ; it is rieh in honey and has much oil, and 
all kinds of fruits are upon its trees. There is barley there and 
wheat, and cattle innumerable. And much besides came to me 
.... when he made me into a prince of his race, of the most 
exquisite of his land. I made bread for daily food and wine for 
daily drink, cooked meat and goose for roast. In addition there 
was also wild venison of the desert, caught for me in trajjs and 
brought to me, besides what my hounds caj)tured. They brought 
much to me .... and milk in every form. Thus I lived for 
many years, and my children grew strong, each one a hero of his 
race. The viesseuger irho marched to the north or ivho Journeyed south- 
wards to the court, rested with me. I entertained all ; I gave 
water to the thirsty, and ])ut the Wanderers upon their road and 
restrained the robbers. When the Bedouins marched abroad 
. . . . to war againd the princes of the nations, I counseüed their 
cainpaigu. This prince of Tenu made me for many years the 
Commander of his army, and in every country to which I marched, 
I was a hero .... upon the meadows by its streams (I); I 
captured their herds, I carried away their people and plundered 
their Stores ; I slew the men with my sword and my bow, by my 
marches and by wise plans. 

This pleased him and he loved me ; he knew bow brave 1 was 
and set me at the head of his children. He saw the power of my 
arm. 

There came a mighty man from Tenu and scoffed at me in my 
tent ; he was a . . . . , who had no equal and vvho had vanquished 
all Tenu. He said he would fight with me ; he thought to slay 
me ; he thought to have my herds for his prey .... for his tribe. 

Then that prince took counsel with me and I said : " I know 
him not. . . . He attacks me like a raging bull in the midst of 
the cows, goaded by a bull of the herd . . . . a bull, when he 
loves fighting . . . ., does he fear him who would prove him .^ 
If his heart desires battle, so let him speak his wish." 

' Erman thinks this is very likely the same country that about 1500 B.C. was 
called the " Upper Retenu," and means Palestine. It is in two districts, the 
Southern part, called Ken'ana, and the northern, 'Eniur (Canaan and the land of 
the Amorites). By the " Lovver Retenu " they meant the Syrian plains. Keft is 
not Phcenician (Erman, Ägypien, p. 680), but Caphtor = Crete, as W. M, 
Müller has shown. 

- Cyprus was thus called bySargon. He says: "ana Ya-'nageshamat Vatnana " ; 
that is to say, " towards Ya', the Island of Yatnana." 



THE STORY OF SINUHE 327 

In the nioht I strung my bow, I made ready my arrows, I 
sharpened (?) my dagger^ I polished my weapons.^ When the 
day broke, Tenu came out and its tribes were gathered together, 
and the neighbouring countries had joined with them. When 
they thought of this combat^ every heart burnt for me, the men 
and the women shouted and every heart pitied me. They said : 
" Is there no other mighty man who would fight against him ? " 

Then he seized his shield, his lance, and his armful of spears. 
But after I had drawn out his -vveapons^ I let his spears fly past me 
and fall useless upon the earth, one after another. Then he 
rushed (?) upon me^ and I shot him^ so that my arrow stuck in his 
neck. He shouted and feil upon his nose, and I slew him with 
his lance. I Struck out my shout of victory fi-om his back (!), and 
all Asia shouted. I praised the god Month, but his people 
mourned for him. This prince Amienshi folded me in his arms. 
Then I took his goods and his herds^, and what he had thought to 
do to me^ that I did to him. I took what was in his tent and 
plundered his camp. From this I became great and rieh in 
trcasure and in my herds. 

Later Siiiuhe was again received into favour at the Egyptian 
court. After he had given over his possessions to his children, 
so that the eldest son became leader, the tribe and all its goods 
belonging to him, his servants and all his herds, his fruits and 
all his sweet (date) trees, he journeyed to the south (home to 
Egypt). 

The Bedouin tribes of Palestine therefore stood in close 
relationship to the civilised land of Egypt. According to the 
evidence of the papyrus, their Sheikhs habitually frequented the 
court of the Pharaohs, and were well acquainted with all events 
going on in Egypt (also previously there is mention of a 
Bedouin who was in Egypt). Ambassadors journeyed with 
written messages to and fro between Egypt and the Euphrates. 
These Asiatic Bedouins were by no means barbarians ; the 
barbaric nations warred against by the king of Egypt were 
expressly named in Opposition to them. The Bedouin Sheikhs 
themselves gather together into armies against " the princes of 
the nations "" ; in our poem Sinuhe was their leader and adviser, 
like Abraham in Gen. xiv. in the war against the kings. 

* After the expulsion of the Hyksos by Amosis (capture of the 

chief city, Avaris) the Egyptians pressed into Syria. We learn 

1 In many of its features the story resembles that of David and Goliath. 



328 



PRE-ISRAELITE CANAAN 



by pictorial representations from the time of bis son Amenophis 
I. that this king led campaigns into Asia.^ The records of his 
sucoessor Thothmes I. already speak of the Euphrates and of 
" the l•e^■el•sed water, by which one travels to the north, if one 
goes up-stream." ^ Thothmes III. (about 1600) again under- 
took an offensive campaign. He conquered Megiddo and 
pressed on as far as Naharina (Mesopotamia), and left upon the 





^m^. 



/^ 






Fig. 103. — Lists of Thothmes upon the wall of the temple of Amon 
in Karnak ; outer wall of the holy of holies. 

wall of the temple of Karnak in Thebes a list of the Canaanite 
eitles subjiigated by him (see fig. 108).^ Amongst the names 
we find the Biblical places Akzib, Beth-anath, Gibea, Hazor, 
Ibleam, Laisa, Megiddo, Ophra, the seaport eitles Acco, Beirut, 
Joppa, also Damascus and others. Also Negeb is mentioned, 
the " soLith-eountry '' later belonging to Judah. The most 

^ See Niebuhr in Helmolt's IVeltgeschichie, iii. 617. 

^ The opposite to the Nile. 

^ Latest treated by Maspero, Sur les 110ms de la liste de Thutines III., 
comp. Histoire ancienne^ p. 256 ; and W. H. Müller, Asien tmd Europa, 161 f., 
IL,!, 196, 



EGYPT AND CANAAN 



329 



remarkable name amongst the conquerecl places is Ja'kob-el.^ 
The Egyptians also, like the Babylonians and Assyrians, brought 
wood, preferable from the mountains of Syria (see fig. 104). 

* Sethi I. (about 1400), father of Rameses IL, names on the 
teniple wall at Karnak, amongst 
his conquests, Beth-anath (Joshua 
xix. 38 ; Judges i. S3) and Kirjath- 
Anab (" the city of grapes,"" Joshua 
xi. 21) and Jenu'am (fig. 103),- 
also the Phoenician city of Tyre. 
Rameses IL (about 1240), who 
latterly has again been looked on 
as the Pharaoh of the oppression, 
has left US in his inscriptions a 
detailed description of his victoi-y 
over the Hittites in the battle of 
Kadesh.'^ We learn here that the 
Hittite king gathered around him 
the subjugated hosts " out of all 
countries, those who belong to the 
region of Chetaland, and of the 
country of Naharena, and of all 
the land of Kedah,"" and Rameses 
complains " that the overseers of the peasantry and the great 
ones to whom the land of the Pharaohs is connnitted " have 
not informed him of it. The battle of Kadesh did not bring 

' W. H. Müller, Jsü;t und Europa , looks for this place in Central Palestine ; 
Shauda in V.A.G., 1902, 90 ff., tries to find it at Jabbok, and explains it as a 
variant of Penuel. Identification with the Jacob of the history of the Patriarchs is 
very uncertain, because the name Ja'kub-ilu, that is to say, Ja'kub, occurs also in 
Babylonian contracts of the Hammurabi age. The other much-debaled name is 
Ishpar, which should be read Joseph-el. Also here it must be noted that Jashup- 
ilu occurs in Hammurabi contracts: comp. Hommel, Altisr. ÜberL, 95, in, 
passiiu. Spiegelberg, in Der Aufenthalt Israels in Ägypteji, speaks of a Hyksos 
king Jacob-el and of another Hyksos prince's name which should read as Simeon. 
He takes it that the migrations towards Egypt embodied in Abraham and Jacob 
belong to the Hyksos migrations (beginning about 1700). (Upon the Semitic 
originofthe Hyksos, see Spiegelberg, O.L.Z., 1904, 130 ff.) 

^ Is Janün also meant here? Comp. p. 334, n. i. 

•' See Erman, Ägypten, pp. 696 ff. One of the monuments at Nähr ei Kelb 
(p. 321) belongs to him, likewise a monument in the country east of Jordan. 




c;. 104. — The princes of Lebanun 
felling trees for Sethi I. (Ros. 
46). 



330 PRE-ISRAELITE CANAAN 

the Separation. The final treaty of peace vvhich ended the war 
between Egyptians and Hittites on Canaanite ground was 
ratified by a political treaty written upon a silver tablet. 
(For further detail, see Chap. XXV.) 

To the time of Rameses IL also belongs the satirical literary 
article used in the schools (!) on the Anastasi Papyrus I.,^ in 
which the journey through Syria of a Mahar (envoy) of 
Rameses IL, named Nechsotep, is related. He transported 
monuments for the king, destroyed obelisks in Syene, and with 
four thousand soldiers put down an insurrection in the quarries 
of Hammamat. The Mahar described his journey to his friend, 
" an artist in the sacred writings, a teacher in the hall of books.'' 
The friend did not find the letters written in good style, and 
repeated them in rhetorical style with satirical little side-thrusts 
at the adventures of his friend. We reproduce a passage of 
the text, as the story gives us an insight into the geographical 
and intellectual circumstances of Canaan about 1400 b.c. 

He accompanies his friend in Imagination through all the 
stages of the journey : 

I am a writer and a Mahar, thou sayest repeatedly. Weih 
what thou sayest is true. Come along. Thou seest after thy 
teams, the horses are fast as jackals, like a tempest when they ave 
let go. Thou setzest the bit, takest the bow, — now we shall see 
what thy band doest. I will describe to thee what happens to a 
Mahar and will teil thee what he does. 

. Art thou not come to the land of Cheta^ and hast thou not seen 
bhe land of 'Eupa ? Jiaduma, knowest thou not his form? And 
likewise Ygadiy, what is its condition ? D'ar of the king Sesostris 
— which side of it lies the city of Chavbu ? And what is the 
condition of its ford ? 

Dost thou not journey to Kadash - and Tubache ? '^ Dost thou 
not come to the help of the Bedouins with troops and soldiers ? 
Didst thou not pass on the road towards Magar .'' where the heaven 
is dark by day because it is overgrown with oaks high as heaven 
and cedars (?) where Kons are seen oftener than the jackal and 
hyena, and where the Bedouins Surround the way. 

^ Treated by Chabas, Voyagd cOun Egyptieit en Palestine ; some passages are 
translated by Erman, Ägypten, pp. 508 ff. ; where the polemic object of the vvriting 
is recognised, see also W. M. Müller, Asien und Europa, pp. 54, 172 ff., 394. A 
new coUation and complete translation of the text is in preparation. 

" The Syrian Kadesh, not the Israelite (Müller, loc. eil., 173), is probably rxreant. 

•■ Tubich of the Amarna Letters (Db^ju of the Thothmes lists?). 



EGYPT AND CANAAN 331 

Hast thou not climbed the mountain Shana r 1 .... When 
thou returnest at night all thy members are ground to powder and 
thy bones are broken, and thou sleepest. When thou wakest, it 
IS the sad night time, and thou art quite alone. Has not a thief 
been, to steal from thee .^ .... The thief has escaped in the 
night and has stolen thy elothes. l'hy stableman has waked in 
the night, has noted what has happened, and has taken away with 
him what was left over. He has then gone amongst the wicked 
has mixed with the tribes of the Bedouins, and has fled to Asia' 
... I will also teil thee of another mvsterious city, which is 
called Kepuna (Gubna, Gebal). What is it like .? its goddess— 
another time. Hast thou not been there r 

I call: Come to Barut'e (Beirut), to D'i(du)na (Sidon) and D'arput'e 
(Sarepta). Where is the ford of Nat'ana .? = Where is 'Eutu .? 3 Xhev 
lie above another city on the sea, it is called D'ar (Tyre) of the coast"^; 
water is brought to it in ships, she is richer in fishes than in sand 
.... whither goes the road from ^\ksapu ? ^ To what city .^ 

1 call: Come to the Mount User."' What is its summit like .^ 
Where is the mountain of Sakama .^ " Who will possess it ? The 
Mahar. Where does he march towards Hud'aru .? What is his 
ford.? Show me, where they go to Hamat'e' (Hamath), Degar 
and Degar-'ear, the place whence the Mahar issues. 

It says further, after having asked in the above way where 
the ford of the Jordan is, where Megiddo lies, whether it also 
^vill not be giveu to so brave a Mahar : 

Pass along, along the ravine with the preci])ice two thousand 
ells deep, füll of boulders and rubble. Thou makest a detour. 
Thou graspest the bow and showest thyself to the good princes 
(that is, the allies of Egypt), so their eyes are fatigued by thy 
splendour. " 'Ebata kama, 'ear mahar n'ämu," they sav, and thou 
Avinnest for thyself the name of a Mahar, of the "best officer of 
Egypt. Thy name is celebrated amongst them like that of 
Gad'ardey, prince of 'Esaru, when the hyenas found him in the 
jungle, in the defile which was barred by the Bedouins; they were 
hidden under the bushes, and many of them measured four ells 
from nose to heel, they had fierce eyes, their heart was unfriendly, 

' In the annals of Tiglath-Pileser, iii. 126, is Sa-u-e. 

- Nähr el Kasimije, Leontes, in the present Upper Lithuania. 

" Usu, Palsetyrus ; see Winckler, Gesc/i. Isr., i. 201. 

^ Akzib of the Thothmes list, p. 195 ; Ekdippa in Eusebius. 

' This must be the Scala Tyriorum. 

" Sichern, therefore Ebal or Gerizim ? See Müller, /oc. cit., 394. 

' The pass "where one goes towards Hamath," the boundary of the Hittite, 
then of the Egyptian, then of the Assyrian power, the northernmost point of the 
kingdom of Israel. 



332 



PRE-ISK AELITE C ANA AN 













;if£.^iiZ5.i^^sr^'*i-'?'<fALro;irM.'iHzSf^M^ss^iiiöi 



!^££(^§-KTg^-äH.S;|^^S^{riig^t^lM>r^t,:^,?lJtgti?>, ? 



#5ii^!-:^^^^a;g1lfn^'?r4^if^ai/^^[:^>||LE^^±^i:;:Tf 






Fig. 105. — The so-called Israel Stele, 1250 b.c. From 
Spiegelberg's Aufoithall Israels in Ägypten. 



EGYPT AND CANAAN 333 

and they listened to no flattery. Thoii art alone, no one sees thee 
no army follows thee, and thou findest no one to show the way! 
Thou must go alone, yet thou knowest not the way. Then anxiety 
seizes thee, thy hair Stands on end and thy soul 'lies in thy hand. 
Thy road is füll of boulders and nibble, thou canst not go forward 
beeause of the 'Esburum and Qad'a bushes, because of the Naha 
bushes and because of the aloes. Upon one side of thee is the 
preeipice, upon the other the mountain-^vall, and so thou climbest. 

The end of this bad journey is that the horses shy, and their 
traces break ; the poor Mahar has to go on foot in the heat 
of the sun, oppressed with thirst and fear of ambushed foes. 
He is followed by misfortune upon bis journey. 

"When thou enterest Joppa," records the mocking author, ^^thou 
findest the garden blooming in its season. Then thou pressest in, 
to eat, and findest there the lovely maiden who guards the vine- 
yard ; she joins thee as thy companion and bestows her charms 
upon thee." 

A thief takes advantage of the hour to cut the horses froni 
the chariot of the Mahar and to steal his weapons. Finally 
it says : 

Look kindly upon this, so thou shalt not say I have made thy 
name of bad odour with other people. Behold, I have only de- 
scribed to thee how it fares with a Mahar ; / have run through Syria 
Jor thee, I have broiight before thee the coimtries and the cities irith their 
customs. Be gracious to us and look upon it calmly. 

From Eguptian material^ a specially important inscription, 
discovered by Flinders Petrie, dating about 1250,* should also 
be laid stress on, which names '• Israel'' as inhabitanfcs of the 
country, belonging to Canaan, and in which Merneptah is 
glorified as a king, who has conquered and " pacified " countries 
(flg. 105): 

The princes are thrown to the ground 

and say shalom^- 

none amongst the stranger people raises his head. 

Libya is desolated, 

Cheta is pacified, 

Canaan is conquered in all evil (.?), 

^ Figs. loi f. represent piisoners from the land of the Amorites. 
'- A foreign Semitic word in the Egyptian text (Spiegelberg). The well-known 
greeting, here = a prayer for peace ; Assyrian, sha'alu shulmi. 



S34 



PRE-ISRAELITE CANAAN 



Ascalon is led away, 
Gezer is overpowered, 
Y-nu-'m ^ is annihilated, 
Y-si-r-'-l 2 is wasted (?) without fruit ; ^ 
all lands togethev are at peace ; 
everyone that wavered has by King,- Menieptah 
chastised. 



been 



It cannot be decided with certainty in wliat relationship the 




Fig. io6. — Amcnuphis ITI. Relief from a Theban tomh, Berlin. 

Israel named here Stands to the tribes which migrated out of 
Egypt under Moses and Joshua. According to some, Merneptah 
is the Pharaoh of the oppression, see p. 90, ii. If that is true, 
then the Israelites mentioned here are Hebrews in the sense 
indicated at p. 339, with whom the tribes who migrated froni 

^ This is probably the Janoah of Joshua xvi. 6 f , the present Janun, scnith-east of 
Sichern. Can it be the same city whose conquest by Sethi is glorified upon the 
outer wall of the Hall of Statues in Karnak ; see fig. 109, to the left, at the top. 

'•^ " Israel" with ihe determinative for men. 

■^ The last lines are according to Steiiidorff's translation. Spiegelberg, /oc. cit., 
p. 39, says : " Palestine is become a widow (comp. Lam., i, i) for Egypt." 



CANAAN IN THE AMARNA PERIOD 



S35 



Goshen afterwards allied themselves on the ground of former 
attachment, or they are the Bene Israel themselves who micrrated 
from Goshen. There raust be some sort of connection with 
the Israelites of the Mosaic time who opposed the Pharaoh} 

As already indicated, the most important Information on the 
circumstances of Canaan in pre-Israelite times is preserved to 
US by the clay tablets found in the year 1887 in the ruins of 




Fig. 107. — Amenophis IV. and his family (limestone). 
Berlin. Relief from a tomb in Amarna. 



Chut-Aten, the present Tel-ei, -A:\iar\a. The}- are political 
documents from the reigns of Pharaoh Amenophis III., and 
especially of Amenophis IV. (Chuenaten ; see figs. 106 and 
107), therefore about 1450 b.c.,- consisting of lettei's from 



^ Comp. Erbt, Ebräei\ pp. i ff., who believes he can prove precise 
relations. 

" So far as at present known (about three hundred fragments) they are preserved 
in the Berlin Museum, in the Museum of Gizeh (Cairo), and in the British Museum, 
and some are private property. Winckler and Abel have published those in Berlin 
and Cairo, Der To)itafeIfiind von el-Amarna, 18S9-90 ; those in the British 
Museum were published by C. Bezold, The Tel-el-Aniaiiia Tablets in fhe British 
Miisewn, 1892. A transcription and translation was given by H. Winckler. K.B., 
V. A new German complete critical edition in transcription and translation 



386 



PRE-ISRAELITE CANAAN 



Western Asiatic kings (of Mitanni, Babylonia, and Assyria), 
whieh show that Egypt was recognised as the dominating 
power, and of reports from Canaanite Amelu (princes) and 
Egyptian Rabis (administrators, governors) to the Egyptian 
ruler; besides these they contain some mythological passages 

and the circular epistle from 
an unknown Western Asiatic 
ruler to the governor of 
Canaan. 

The name Canaan (Kinahni 
and Kinahhi, see p. 337} signi- 
fies here, as also formerly in 
the Egyptian accounts,^ the 
southern part of Syria, Phoe- 
nicia, and Palestine ; the name 
Amurru is limited to the 
region of Lebanon.- 

A letter of Burnaburiash to 
Amenophis IV. shows that in 
times of war the land of 
Canaan formed a political 
Unit. It says there : 




Fig. io8. — Motif from a wall decoration 
in the palace of Amenophis IV. (About 
1450 B.c.) Related to Japanese art. 



In the tinie of Kurigalzu, my 
father, the Canaanite (Ki-na-ha- 
ai-u)j all together wrote to him : 
We Avish to go out against the boiuidaries of the country (therefore 
probably towards Negeb^ that is to say, towavds Egypt) and make 
an invasion ; we wish to unite ouvselves with you.^' 

When Arnos speaks of "the land of the Amoi'ites " and of the 
"Amorites" who formerly possessed the land, and -when the 
Elohist names the original inhabitants of the land "Amorites," and 
when it is said satirically in Ezek. xvi. 3, and comp. xlv. : " Thine 
(Jerusalem) origin is of the land of the Canaanite ; the Amorite 



has now been published by A. Jeremias and H. Winckler in Kniidtzon's J'order- 
asiatischen Bibliothek, with notes by O. Weber. 

^ Comp. W. M. Müller, Asien tind Europa, pp. 205 ff. The Egyptians always 
call it, with the appellative/',-A''', -«'■", " the Canaan." 

- The Egyptian inscriptions show this nomenclature : Ken'ana is the south, 
'Emur the north point of the " Upper Retenu " ; see p. 326, n. i . 

■' Therefore a union of the Canaanites, as in Hezekiah's time, against 
Sennacherib.* 



THE AMARNA PERIOD 337 

Avas thy fatlier and thy mother was an Hittite," it shows there- 
fore a knowledge corresponding entirely to the facts of ancient 
historical ethnographical circumstances. For though also possihly 
in the cuneiform records Amurrü ("Westland") and Amurrn ("land 
of the Amorites") are not ahvays identical, yet both nanies are 
closely related linguistically as -well as in political geographv. 

Later, when the Amorites vanished from the northernparts of 
the "Westland/' the name Canaan seems to have embraced also a 
more northern territory, and then (perhaps with the giving of the 
name Palestina ^ to the southern part) seems to have become 
limited to Phcenicia. A Tyrian coin of the Greek period calls a 
city of Laodicea " Chief eity of Canaan " (Em be-kanaan) This is, 
however, probably the city of Laodicea in Lebanon, and Philo of 
Byblos calls Phcenicia Chnä. 

The dcsignation Canaan in the 9th and lOth chapters of Genesis 
corresponds to the noraenclature of the Amarna period, and so 
does the designation of the original inhabitants as " Canaanites " 
by the Yahvists, Avhich therefore is equally correct historically as is 
the designation "Amorites" by the Elohists, reminiscent of more 
ancient cii'cumstances. 

Some of the letters come from the prince and governor 
Abdhiba from Urusalim, i.e. Jerusalem,- they contain petitions 
to the Egyptian king, like the other letters from Palestine and 
Syria. As for the rest, the eitles mentioned in the Amarna 
tablets lead to the conclusion that just the actual region of later 
Israel was comparatively little inhabited. The names printed 
in red on our map No. II. give a summary of the names men- 
tioned on the Amarna tablets, so far as they can be identified. 

It may be seen that chiefly eitles of the coast and seaports 
were named, which already in those days were polnts of flourlshlng 
trade. 

Tills deslrable country was therefore in those tlmes under the 
politicai rule of Egypt.* But it was, and it also remained during 

1 The name Palestine (Palaistine in Herodotus ; Hebrew, Peleshet) denotes, 
after the immigration of the Philistines, the coast country lying in front of Judea, 
the piain of Saron up to the neighbourhood of Jaffa. The Greeks extended the 
name, Kariian (?), of this coast region south of Phcenicia to the whole hinterland : 
Israel-Judah, together with Edom, Moab, and Amnion. Just as the Persians 
called Greece lonia, after the nearest coast to them of Asia Minor, so the Greeks 
called the whole country after the strip of coast. We still designate as Palestine 
the whole region of the " Holy Land." 

- In the populär Israelite etymology the name is interpreted as " city of peace " ; 
comp. Shalem, Ps. ex, It should, however, be noted that Shalem originally = 
Sichern ; see p. 30, n. i, ii. and p. 29, ii. 

VOL. I, 22 



338 



PRE-ISRAELITE CANAAN 



the Egyptian hegemony, under Babylonian intellectual influence, 
for all the letters out of Canaan are in Babylonian language 
and written in cuneiform character ; some of the docunients 
still show the ink-points of the Egyptian reader, by which the 
Egyptian receiver sought to make the reading easier, since 
cuneiform character has no Separation of words. Babylonian 
language and cuneiform writing dominated public intercourse 




Fig. 109. — Sethi fights the Hittites. Outer wall of the 
Hall of Columns at Karnak.^ 



in Syria and Palestine. The Hittite king writes to the Pharaoh 
in Babylonian, and the archive of Boghazkoi shows that Baby- 
lonia also influenced the intellectual sphere.- 

If, however, " Babylonian " was the language of intercourse, 
the country must have been for centuries before under 

' To the left, at the top, the conquest of Jenu'am is glorihed ; comp. p. 334, n. i. 

^ Also the khig of the Mitanni, Tushratta, forces his barbaric Hittite (?) native 
language into the Babylonian word and syllable writing. He writes, for the rest, 
in signs, in the Assyriaii Duktus -. Mesopotamia passed on Babylonian civilisation 
to Assyria. 



THE AMARNA PERIOD 



339 



the influence of Babylonian culture, and also have been 
politically dependent upon Babylon. This also agrees with 
the Information given pp. 314 fF. from ancient Babylonian 
periods. 

At the time of the composition of the Tell-Amarna Letters, 
therefore about 1400 r.c, according to the evidence of these 
documents two interior foes in particular gave the inhabitants 




Fig. HO. — Sethi leads Hittite prisoners before the Triad of Thebes. 

of the cities of Syria and Palestine some trouble. One was the 
liatti, the Hittites ; the others were called amelu ^abiri, the 
people of Hahir'i. Both groups represent tribes who had the 
idea of settling there. 

The progress of the Hittites is clear to us without further 
detail. They are the Cheta of the Egyptian Inscriptions (see 
fig. 111, and comp. fig. 46) who at that time pressed into Syria 
and Palestine from Cappadocia, in the course of the next 
centuries conquered Syria, as far as Hermon, and still in the 
thirteenth Century repeatedly gave trouble to Egypt, A remnant 



340 FRE-ISRAELITE CANAAN 

of these Hatti maintained themselves at Karkemish on the 
Euphrates tili the year T17 a.d.^ 

When for the burial of Sarah, according to the record in Gen. 
xxiii., the burial-place had to be bought from the ilittiteS;, who 
possessed country and city, and when it is said in Ezek. xvi. 3 
(see above, p. o36), "the Amorite was thy fathei^ and thy mother 
was an Hittite," and when Esau takes Hittite wives (Gen. xxvi. 
34 f.), it all agrees witli the conditions of which we have witness in 
the Amarna Letters. It cannot be doubted that the Hittites had 
then made their rights of ownership feit as conquerors also in 
Palestine. We should not assume here an artificial " archaism " - 



Fig. III. —Hittite stag hunt. Uiiginal in the Louvre. 

])ut should allow that the written soiirces drawn froin were well 
informed in history.' 

' Compare ihe article " Karkemisch '' in Hauck's R.Pr.Th., jrd ed. This 
tribe of the Haiti belongs to a group of people neither Semitic nor Indo-Geimanic, 
the name of which we do not know, but which we commonly call Hittite. This 
designation of " Hittite'" in the wide sense is often interchanged with that of the 
true Hatti. One of the first groups of these Hatti in the wide sense, which 
piessed into Syria, were the Mitanni, who also play a gveat part in the Amarna 
Letters. They broke the Babylonian power in the Westland, and likewise became 
the pioneers of Egyptian government in Canaan. See upon this Messerschmidt, 
A.O., iv. I. 

- Thus Holzinger in Marti's Handkommeiitar, with Stade, Geschichte Israels, i. 
p. 143, n. I, because "the Hittites, at the time of the Biblical codification of the 
so-called P, had vanished." 

^ The author of Judges i. 10 names Canaanites as possessing Hebron. This is 
no contradiction, but it even corresponds to laier circumstances. Besides, the P 
only contains the story of the Hittite cave of Machpelah (according to Sept. a 
double cave, from the exploration of which, up to the present prevented, we may 
await much ; comp. Gautier, Sotiveni}' de terre sainte, 1898), The P shows also 
otherwise much ancient wisdom and ancient memories. It may be true to a certain 
extent that its Abraham appears as an idealised figure, but the Abraham of its 
original sources, lost to us, must certainly have been of flesh and blood. 



THE AMARNA PERIOD 341 

Who are the piople qf j^abiri ? Froin the very firsl the de- 
cipherers of the Amama Letters have shown that the sound of the 
name answers to that of the Hebrews. The names are certainly 
identical. It is, however, quite another question what relation 
the Habiri of the Ainarna Letters bear to the Bibhcal "Hebrews." 
It deiiotes here the micjratory tribes who seemed to be a dano-er 
to the City population. In the sauie sense Abraham in Canaan 
is called "the Hebrew " (Gen. xiv. 13), thereby in the story of 
Abimelech indicating his relation to the citv dwellers ; and in 
Egypt Joseph was called " the Hebrew." i 

The languagc qf Canaan in the Ainarna Letters is, as we 
have said, Babylonian for official purposes. Bat that was not 
the proper languagc qf the countrij. We find for that much 
inore a sort of dialect, a niixture of Babylonian with a native 
language. We get an idea of the formation of the native 
language froni glosses which were added here and there to the 
Babylonian texts. It proved, as might be expected, practically 
identical with the dialect called in Isa. xix. 18 "the language 
of Canaan,'' and which we call Hebrew.- 

Quite lately evidences from pre-Israelite times have been 
brought to light in Canaan itself.'^ 

The Palestine Exploration Fund niade excavations by Flinders 
Petrie in 1890, and later by Bliss in South- Western Palestine. 
They found in the neighbourhood of Unim Lachish, under the 
mound Teil el Hasi, the remains of the city of Lachish. An 
accidental discovery brought to light a cuneiforni letter which 
twice mentions the name of Zimrida, who, according to the 
Amarna I^etters, was governor of Lachish, and of Sipti-Ba'al, 
who is also known from the Amarna Letters. 

1 Gen. xl. 15, xli. 12 ; see p. 6S, ii. Upon the Habiri in the Amarna Letters, 
comp. Winckler, F., iii. 90 ff. Upon the Sa-gash (identical with Habiri) = 
" robber " = Gad (compare the play of words in Gen. xlix. 19, 'isk geditdim, Hosea 
vi. 9, transferred to the Babylonian?) see Erbt, Hebi-äer, 41 f. 

- For further details see Zimmern, K.A. T., yd ed., 651 tt"., and chief of all in 
Bohl, Die Sprache de)- Anianiabriefe. 

•^ We pass over here the partial opening up of the walls of David and Solomon by 
the Engiish excavations under Warren {The Recovery of Jerusalem, 1871), and the 
continuation of this excavation by the German Palestine Society under H. Guthe 
{Z.D. V.P., V.) ; likewise the continuation of the work by Bliss, 1894-97 (Bliss and 
Dickie, Excavations atjerusaieni, 1895), chiefly concerning the pre-Byzantine walls. 



34S PRE-ISRAELITE CANAAN 

The vriter of the letter informs the '• Great One/' ie. the 
Egyptiaii overseer and corn-niarket administrator Janhamu, whose 
Position notably recalls that of Joseph in Egvpt (pp. 72, ii. fF), that a 
certain Shipti-Addi has rebelled against Zimrida of l.achish and has 
Avritten to hini to the same effect. 

Bliss and Macalister discovered in South- Western Palestine 
in 1899 and 1900, in four mounds (Tell-el-Safi = Gath ? Teil 
Zakariya = Azekah ? Teil Sandahannah = Mareshah, Teil el 
Judeideh), the reaiain.s of old Castles and eitles partlv froni 
ancient Canaanite periods.i In 1902-1905 and 1907, Macalister 
excavated for the English Palestine Exploration Fund at Teil 
Abushusha, three liours east of Jaffa, the site of the Biblical 
Gezer, that Solonion recei\ed from Pharaoh as a marriage por- 
tion with his daughter (1 Kings ix. 16).^ The most important 
find here in regard to our question consists of three seals with 
niythological representations, of which one is certainly Babij- 
hnian (prayer to a star), and of an Assyrian stele in Tell-el-Safi,-^ 
an Egyptian stele inscription in Tell-el-Safi ^ and in Gezer ; '" 
likewise in Gezer some Egyptian statues of gods (amongst theni 
Isis with a cliild), vases, and incense dishes.'' German work has 
in the past few years been particularly rieh in result. 

Ta'annek in North Palestine, site of the Biblical Taanak in 
the Piain of Jezreel, not far from Megiddo, has been excavated 
during the years 1902 to 1904 by E. Sellin with rieh result." 
He opened up a city there which must have existed about 
2000-600 B.c. and was protected by four Castles. In one of the 
buildings of unpolished, polygonal, hard limestone, and recognised 
as of ancient Canaanite period chiefly by the external wall 

^ Bliss and Macalister, Excavations in Palestine, London, 1902. 

- Records in the Slatcments of the Palestine Exploration Fund, 1902 H. For 
further progress compare for the future also the Alterlwns-Berichie aus dem 
Kiilttirkreis des Mittelnieers, which since May 1906 have appeared in each number 
of the O.L.Z, Upon the following conibination, comp. Sellin, Die Ertrag der 
A usgrabimgen . 

" See Bliss and Macalister, /öc. cit., 41 ; upon the seal, comp. 153. 

* Loc. cit., p. 43. 

^ Palestine Exploration Fund, 1903, p. 37. 

^ Bliss and Macalister, loc. cit., fig. 24 ff. ; comp. Bliss, A Mound of Many 
Cities, passim. 

"^ Sellin, Fell Fa'annek, 1904 ; Nachlese auf dein Fell Fa'annek, 1906. Comp. 
Sellin, Ertrag der Ausgrabungen i/n Orient, Leij^zig, 1905. 



EXCAVATIONS IN CANAAN 



S43 



being built in stories, Seilin found a book ehest (comp. 
Jer. xxxii. 14) belonging to the prince of Ta'annek, which 
unfortunately only still contained two clay tablets, lists of 
inhabitants ; near by were found two lettei's, and then 
another six clay tablets, all written in Babylonian cuneiform 
character. One of the lists is of the heads of families which 
can supply two or three men. The use of the other is 
doubtful ; it is said in one place, " 20 men of Adad,'' in 
another apparently " 20 men of Amon," so it may be a 
list of pries ts, or a list of Castles, that is to say, buildings, 
dependent upon the temple. One of the first letters found 
runs as follows : ^ — 

To Ashirat-jashur : Gull Addi. Live happy. May the gods 
guard thy health^ the health of thy house and of thy children. 




Fig. 112. — Seal cylinder discovered in Ta'annek. 

Thou hast written to me in regard to the money,. and behold 
I Avill give thee 50 pieces. . . . Why hast thou not sent hither 
thy greeting ? All that thou mayest have heard, write unto 
me, that I may have information. If the finger of Ashirat 
shows itself, then note it and follow it ! And let me know of 
the sign and of the event. As regards Biuti-Kanidu Avho is 
in RubutUj know she is well taken care of. When she is 
grown, then give her to the .... that she may belong to a 
husband. 

The second letter, likewise addi'essed to Ashirat-jashur, the 
Prince of Ta'annek, from a man named Guli-Addi ; it begins with 
the greeting: '"'The Lord of the Gods protect thy head." The 
rest of its meanina: is obscure. 



' The first translations were given by the Assyriologist Hrozny, in Sellin, 
loc. cit. 



344 



PRE-ISRAELITE CANAAN 



The writing and tlie language of the documents, composed 

by variou.s scribes, is Babylonian and 
gives evidence that the Canaanites 
of the fifteenth Century (for the 
Amarna discoveries ave of about 
this date) were not only in diplo- 
matic intercourse with Egvpt, but 
spoke and wrote in Babylonian 
amongst themselves. This, however, 
presupposes centuries of intercourse 
with Babylonian culture and 
thought. The view, suppovted by 
the Amarna Letters, that the t\rants 
of the cities from vanity kept scribes 
who could niore or less understand 
and write the Babylonian language, 
can no longer be held after the dis- 
covery of these private documents 
at Ta'annek. 

On religious grounds the follow- 
ing Ta'annek discoveries mav be 
named : — 




Fig. 113. — Ishtar of 
Ta'annek. 



1 . A stone altar in a burying ground 
for children of ancient Canaanite period (Selhn, Teil Ta'annek, 
p. 34). It is he-vvn in a step (conipare ae:ainst this the command 
in Exod. xx. 25 f ). 

2. Tavo cohmms in the chief street, which are shown to be 
sacrificial cohmms by saucer-hke holes. 

3. Rows of columns below the North castle (two rows of five 
each), columns at the entrance to houses, which were probablv 
sprinkled with oil or blood. 

4. Statues of Ishtar, and also nineteen of certain untraceable 
types (see Hg. II3I); four of anomalous types. Further detail 
p. 349. 

.K A seal cylinder, bearing in Ancient-Babylonian cuneiform of 
the character of the Hammurabi age the inscrij)tion : " Atana-hili, 
son of Habsi, servant of the god Nergal," and beside this some 
Egyptian hieroglyphics expressing a blessing (see fig. 112). 
This entirely corresponds with the expectation : ancient Canaan 



^ This and the following tigures are after Sellin, Teil Ta'annek. 



EXCAVATIONS AT TA'ANNEK 



345 



was dominated inteHectually by Babylonia and Egypt simul- 
taneously. 

6. A clay altar of incense, which for altav hörn has the hörn of 
a ram (not of a bull). It has upon each side three figures, with 
beardless face^ the body of a beast, and wings^, and which ap- 
parently stride towavds the person standing in front of the altar. 
Lions lie between them (four altogether), whose front paws rest 
upon the head of the nearest monster. Upon the left side a boy 
wresthng with a serpent^ which has reared itself in front of hiiii 




Fig. 114. — Tree of life, with ioexes, on the so-calied 
altar ot incense at Ta'annek. 



with open jaws^ is put in amongst the figures. A rehef upon the 
front wall shows the tree of life with two ibex. According to 
Sellin the altar, the measurements of which agree partly with 
those given in Exod. xxx. 2, and the form of which narrows 
towards the top in a peculiar way, may date from the classic 
IsraeHte period, somewhere about the eighth Century^ but the 
pattern is undoubtedly older, and originates in a stränge land. 
The ex})lanation as altar of incense is doubtful. It may have 
reference to an oven. An altar would be larger. (See ügs. 
115 and 11 6.) 

Sellin thinks he can establish also an original Canaanite 
culture, cliiefly from the evidence of some ceramic art, which is 



846 



PREISRAELITE CANAAN 



distinguished by hatching and peculiarly arched handles and 
certain decorations. What proves to be original from the 
Israelite era (therefore since about 1200) is ungainly and clumsy, 

and corresponds to the 
expectation : in all 
matters of culture 
Israel was dependent. 
Seilin believes he 
has observed that 
Babylon ian influence 
ceased in the Israelite 
era. But we can 
scarcely think that 
possible. Certainly 
the power of Babylonia 
declined then, but 
Assyrian and Baby- 
lonian culture was 
identical. Besides 
which,there is evidence 
to the contrary in the 
Babylonian lion on the 
seal of Megiddo; 
further, the contract in 
cuneiform character ^ 
found in Gezer, and 
the Assyrian-Babylonian seal cylinder found in Sebaste. We 
shall also find traces in the Bible showing that Babylon made 
its influence feit still later both in language and writing. 

The excavations in Palestine have shown, besides Babylonian 
and Egyptian, yet a third factor of civilisation in the Bible 
land, making itself feit since the fourteenth Century — namely, 
the so-called Mycencean.' 

We have pointed out an example at pp. 317 f. showing here 
also a close relationship to Babylon. Besides, when a certain 

^ Palestine Exploration Fwid, 1904, 229 ff. ; comp. Seilin, loc. cit., 28. 
- An influence of this kind would be explained also by an immigration of a 
seafaring people such as the Philistines (Crete-Keft-Caphtor). 




Fig. 115. — Altar of incense at Ta'annek. Original 
in the Museum at Constantinople. 



EXCAVATIONS AT TA'ANNEK 



347 



emancipation from Babylon and Egypt shows itself, that agrees 
with the fact that at this time (since the thirteenth Century) the 
States of Palestine had 
more scope for free de- 
velopment. It is, in- 
deed, just the period 
wlien the Hebrew 
aiphabet forced itself 
in,^ which superseded 
the cuneiforni char- 
acter in Canaan. This 
civilisation is known 
from fragments of 
pitchers decorated 
with so-called ladder 
pattern, geonietrical 
patterns, fish, birds, 
animals, particularly 
the ibex (see figs. 117 
and 118). Such pitch- 
ers are also found in 
Cyprus and in Egypt, 
and are designated 




Fig. ii6. — Altar of incense at Ta'annek. 
Original in the Museum at Constantinople. 



Phcenician ; they resemble, however, pots from Mycena? and 
Rhodes, which may be considered a wäre manufactured there.^ 





Fig. 117. Fig. 118. 

Seal cylinders from Tel! Hesy. (Bliss, .-4 Mound of Alany Cities, p. 7g.) 

The excavations of the German Palestine Society inMcTESELLiM 
(Megiddo), 1903-1905. Schumacher, Tel d Mutesellim, pub- 
lished by the German Palästinaverein, vol. i., 1909, have brought 
to light mighty ancient Canaanite Castles and equally important 

^ Upon their origin in a much older time, see Hommel, G.G.G., p. 28. 
- According to Sellin, Erfrag der Ausgrabungen, pp. 26 f. 



PRE-ISRAELITE CANAAN 




Single items. The Ancient-Hebrew seal of "Shema', the servant 
of Jeroboam," ^ reproduced in fig. 119, belongs to this discovery. 
We draw attention also to the following : 

An Egyptian incense-burner (represented M.D.P.J'., 1904, p. 55), 
a Babylonian seal cylinder of Jasper, a Babylonian seal with the tree 
of life and griffins and other beasts^ the tree of life with griffins also 
lipon a -white enamel amiilet^ figures of Astarte^ carved stones as in 
Ta^annekj ruins of a rock altar. 

In both mounds were found jugs with the renniants of masses 

of bodies of children. 
Seilin and others have 
concluded ch'ild .sacri- 
fices. ]Ve wish on- 
phaticalh) to diff'erfrom 
tliis hypotlicsls. Thev 
huried the children in 
the houses, which is 
certified by the latest 
graves found in Assur, 
and when it was pos- 
sible, in the neighbour- 
hood of the sanctu- 
aries. Also the 
" passing through fire " of the first-born was not human sacrifice 
but was a ceremony of the solstice festival. Human sacrifice, 
spoken of with horror of the King of Moab (2 Kings iii. 27), 
must have only taken place very occasionally.* 

Tlic Religion of pre-Lvadite Canaan 

The history of the cults reflects in Canaan, as everywhere 
eise, the course of various conquests. Political changes are 
identified by the cults. In Western Asiatic reahns it must, 
however, be borne in mind that at the back of various cults is 
the same religious teaching. When Osiris appears for Tanimuz, 
Ba'alat of Gebal for Ishtar, Amon for Ba'al, it is nothing but a 
change of name. We can only speak in this sense of a " mixed 

^ Kautzsch, Miillg. u. Nachr. des D.P.V., 1904, i f. The complete records 
upon Mutesellim may be found in the numbers of the years 1904 ff. 



Fig. 119. — The seal of "Shema', the servant 
of Jeroboam." Upon " servant " = minister, 
see p. 248, ii. upon 2 Kings xxv. 8. (Enlarged.) 
After M.D.P. V., 1904, p. 2. 



RELIGION OF PRE-ISRAELITE CANAAN 349 

religion." ^ The seal cylinder repiodiiced p. 343 with Babylonian 
picture and Babylonian legend, and with a blessing in hiero- 
glyphics, corresponds to the political Situation : Egypt and 
Babylonia striving for the mastery in Syria. 

The Canaanite gods Ba'al and Moloch, affirmed in the Bible, 
probably correspond to the Upperworld and Underworld appear- 
ances of the Canaanite astral divinity.- They are the Sun-o-od in 
the two halves of the cycle — the one bringing blessing, the other 
destruction. 

According to the Aniarna documents," Addu is prominent in 
all districts of Canaan (see p. 86). He is the representation of 
the cycle of nature, emphasised in storm phenomena (p. 124), 
corresponding to the Babylonian Adad-Ramman ; or, what is 
nltiniately the same thing, he is Marduk according to certain 
phases of bis personality, and he is the Hittite Teshup (p. 124, 
figs. 45 and 46). The Greeks said : Jupiter Dolichenus (p. 125). 
Br. 149. 13 ff.:' "The king lets bis voice sound in the 
heaven like Addu, so that the whole land trembles at bis 
voice." He is the Ramman of Hahnän (Aleppo) to whoni 
Shalmaneser II. sacrificed when he entered Syria.'' 

The feminine correspondence i? Ishtar, worshipped in every 
place of worship under a special t-'pe.^ In Ta'annek were found 

^ Comp. F. Jeremias in Chantepic de ! ' Saussaye, Religionsg., 3rd ed., 348 ft. 
Also Sellin's presentation of the religions of Canaan, founded upon the discoveries 
at Ta'annek, loc. cif., pp. 105 ff., is still dominated by the old idea,. which ''"".ores 
the ultimate unity of the cults. More fatal, however, is the error of ^^ onginaP'' 
primitive religions condiiioiis : of stone-vvorship, tree-worship, and animal-worship 
(Seilin, p. 107, "Ancient Religious Worship of Animals"; p. 109, " Primeval 
Tree-worship "). This contains the germ of the evolutionary theory. 

" Ba'al is the Babylonian belu, " Lord." In Molech (t Kings xi. 7, formerly 
always with article) probably the " Babylonian " divine attribute vialik, " Judge " 
is veiled. The pronunciation ol Molech is, according to analogy, a wilful corrup- 
tion of boshet. The sacrificial places (Isa. xxx. 33) have not to do with Molech, 
but with Malka — that is, Ashera ; see Erbt, Die Ebrä'er, p. 235. The gruesome 
Moloch finally disappeared from the scene. 

" See Trampe, " Syrien vor dem Eindringen der Israeliten," in Wissensch. Bei- 
lage ziiiii Jahresbericht des Lessing-Gyninasitinis, 1S98 and 1901. A very able 
treatment of the letters from thcir cultural side ; in regard to the religion the same 
old theory is held here, which speaks of the " later Baal," etc. 

^ Still quoted according to the edition in K.B. V. 

^ K.B., i. 172 f. Complete material in my article " Ramman," in Roscher's 
Lexikon der Mythologie. 

" We may recall the various Marys of Catholic worship, who all represent the 
same Queen of Heaven. Upon the pictures see my article "Die verschleierte 
Göttin von Teil Halaf," in B.A., vii. 



-350 PRE-ISRAELITE CANAAN 

nineteen fragments of statues of Ishtar of the sanie characteristic 
type, four of other types. The goddess is called Ashtarti, or, 
probablv in a special cult, Ashera, Ashirta, Ashratum,^ 
Ba'alat of Gebal (Byblos) was held in particular veneration 
(Br. 57. 4, etc.). Her relation to Tammuz-Adonis has been 
spoken of p. 126. 

Fui'ther appears in proper names the divine nanie Ihu spoken 
of p. 12, ii. (that is to say, Ilann) ; further in theophorous names 
appears N'imh (Bit-Ninib city near Gebal, 55. 31 ; and in 
Urusalinniiu, Br. 183. 15), Dagon, Br. 215 f., in Dagan-takala. 
Of the names of Egyptian gods appears Amon (an inhabitant 
of Beriit, Br. 128. 3, is called Am-mu-nira, and Amanhatbi, 
Br. 134 f.). The scribes call preferably upon him for the 
Pharaoh : " Amana, the god of kings " (Br. 54. 4). Bellt of Gebal 
(Br. 67. 5) appears as his partner; she corresponds to Isis. In 
Br. 87. 64 ff. Rib-Addi writes : " Ilani [plural of Ilu, like Elohim. 
see p. 13, ii.] was thy father, and Shamash and Bellt for Gebal.'' 
In Babylonia Amon-Re corresponds on the one band to Marduk. 
on the other to Shamash. Abimilki of Tyre says (Br. 150. 6 flP.) : 
" O king, thou art like unto Shamash, like unto Addu art 
thoii in the heaven.'' Pharaoh appears as incarnation of the 
smi, and as such is called Shai oash in the letters. Br. 144. 16 ff. : 
" My lord is the sun in hea^•e ; as upon the rising of the sun in 
heaven, so do the servants wait upon the word out of the 
mou'b of his (!) lord.'' Br. 138 calls Pharaoh mar shamash^ 
" son of tue sun." Br. 208. 18 flP. : " The king, the sun of 
heaven, son of the sun, beloyecl of Shamash." - 

' Ashrat upon the Hammurabi Inscription as Lord of the West land, see p. 322. 
Am-Br. 40. 3, Abd-ash-ta-[ar]-ti (error in writing : ashtati) ; variant Br. 38. 2, 
Abd-(ilu)-ash-ra-tum ; 124, 6, Abdashirta ; variants 58. 19, 137. 60, 65. 10, 
Abd-ashratum and Abd-ashrati. 

" Shahnajäti appears as tutelary god of Tyre (Br. 152. 31 f., 40. 51 f.). Trampe, 
loc. c//. , has expressed the conjecture that Melkarth is only an epithet : Melek- 
karth, " king of the city " ; comp. Hommel, Anc. Heb. Trad., 223 f. ; G.G.G., 160, 
n. 4, and Shargäni-shar-ali (ilu shar ali previously in Urnina). Winckler has 
brought the name of Jedidiah, the son of David (Solomon, vassal of Tyre), into 
connection with it ; see Winckler, K.A.T., yd ed., 195, 236, and Erbt, Ebräer, 
pp. 74 and 152. According to Hommel, Shalmajäti (plural Maj. of Shalmai, comp. 
Nabajäti of Nabin), and also the Arabian feminine name Salmai, may be taken 
into comparison. 



RELIGION OF PRE-ISRAELITE CANAAN 351 

As sumvius deus the divinity appears as Ba'al. This carries 
out the principle that succour coulcl be obtained froni other 
gods, which is apparently shown in the story of Jonah 
(Jonah i. 5 f.). In Br. 146. 14 ff. Ittahama wvites : "' If thy 
gods and thy Shaniash move on before me, I shall bring 
back the cities."" It was the duty of the vassal, therefore, to 
honour the gods of his overlord. In Br. 213. 9 f. from Ascalon : 
" I guard for my lord (.^) the gods of the king, my lord."" Con- 
quests were confirmed by the images of the gods being carried 
away, as they were to Assyria and Babylon, and so the land 
left withoiit a lord, or by the king placing his own name upon 
the images (example : Br. 138, Rev. xviii. ff. 29). An angrv 
god left the land (compare the idea of the Jewish people : 
" Yahveh sees ns not, Yahvehhath forsaken the land," Ezek. ix. 9). 
Br. 71. 61 speaks of temples and of treasures of the temple.s. 

The worship in Gebal was ruled by priestes-.'ie.s-, of whoni two 
are mentioned by name in Br. 61. 54 and 69. 85. 

The discoveries of Ta'annek and Mutesellim naturally show 
the same character. We have spoken of the types of Ishtai'. 
The seal cy linder with the picture of Nergal (fig. 112) can 
scarcely be held to be an evidence of a cult of that god. Besides 
Ishtar, that is to say, Ashirat, of whose cult there is particular 
evidence here, and whose oracle was much consulted, there 
appear also Bei, Adad, and Amon (Amuna, that is to say 
Aman in the narae Araa-an-an-ha-sir). 

A highly interesting document from the point of view of 
reliffious historv is the letter of Ahi-Jami to Ashitar-iashur,^ 
i'eproduced p. 343. Whether the later Israelite name for god 
is to be found in Jami may be left out of the question.- The 
deep religious feeling of the letter leads to the conjecture that 
it has to do with a worshipper of God, in close connection with 
the " Children of Israel," whether he belonged to the " Hebrews " 
who had preserved the old religion (p. 5. ii.), or whether he were 

1 See O.L.Z., May 1906. 

2 mz (it is not wi there) is variant of the post-positive ;«ö, which is also found 
elsewhere in proper names; Zimmern's conjecture in Seilin certainly is correct. 
Sellin compares dnm.x, 2 Sam. xxiii.;33, with the name. 



352 PRE-ISRAELITE CANAAN 

an adherent of an Israelite tribe, which had immigrated earlier 
than the tribes under Joshua.^ "May the lord of the gods 
protect thy life ''' ; there is more in this than a monotheistic 
undercurrent. And this leads us to the following chapter. 

' Asser? (Romme], A/ic //e/>. Trad., 228; W. Isl. Müller, Asiem/iiä£uro/>a, 
236 f. ; Erbt, Ehräer, 46.) Or previously one of the tribes of Leah which came 
from Egypt (Steuernagel, Die Eiirwanderitug der israel. Stämme, 115 ff.)? 
Comp. Judges v. 17 f. (Sellin, loc. cit., 108 f.). For the religious estimate of the 
letters, see F. Jeremias in Chautepie de la Saussaye, 3rd ed., i. 353 ; and Baentsch, 
Monotheisimts, p. 57. 



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